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Community Corner

One Los Altos Woman's Fight to Save the Birds

When Michele Raffin saved a single bird on the side of the road one day, she never dreamed it would lead to a lifelong quest.

When Michele Raffin saved a ringneck dove alongside Lawrence Expressway one day in 1996, she never imagined that it would lead her on a lifelong quest to save rare and endangered birds from disappearing in the wild.

More than 10 years later, through her 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Pandemonium Aviaries, Raffin is saving more than just doves.

“We save what we know; we care about what we know,” Raffin said. “If we get to know birds, then we will care about them; and if we care about them, we’ll want to reverse their diminishing numbers.”

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It Began with a Single Bird

Raffin has always been sensitive to the needs of animals, whether it's a roof over their heads, or care for their injuries. Years ago, Raffin was co-chair of the Humane Society Silicon Valley, focused on building the organization a new shelter. So, when she learned of an injured bird discovered on the side of Lawrence Expressway, it was only natural for her to see if she could save its life.

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After taking the bird to a veterinarian, it was discovered that a hawk had dropped the bird, evident by its multiple puncture wounds.

Raffin continued to visit the bird over the course of five days.

“Over that five-day period, I was really impressed,” she said. “Even though she clearly was in pain, she was very forgiving of any of the medical interventions.”

On the fifth day, as Raffin was leaving to visit the bird, she received a call informing her that the bird had died. She sat down and picked up a copy of the Los Altos Town Crier to hide her emotions from her children, and accidentally stumbled upon an ad seeking adoption for some ringneck doves. Raffin already had chickens, acquired through her children’s nursery school from an incubator project. 

“I thought, well, a bird’s a bird. If we had one, we could stick it out with the chickens, it wouldn’t be a problem. And that’s how little I knew about birds,” she said.

Raffin ended up adopting five ringneck doves that looked very similar to the dove she had found on the side of the road, but she had little knowledge of how to care for them. She joined the American Dove Association, which gave her access to a member directory. She contacted a member who lived in Sebastopol, who ended up talking with her for half an hour about doves, providing much valuable information.

“It wasn’t until recently that I really can acknowledge and realize the true depth of his generosity, because now that I have birds, I know how much time it takes to care for them,” Raffin said.

A New Life Rescuing Birds

Not long after that first phone call, Raffin and her husband visited the association member, expecting to spend only a short time. What they had planned on being a short visit turned into several hours during which Raffin toured the member’s aviaries and spent time with him and his wife.

“They had opened up not only the birds, but their homes and their hearts to us, and since then, we’ve gotten increasingly closer, and I would consider them extended family,” Raffin said.

They were even invited to the couple's annual Chistmas party.

“For me, it turned out to be a wonderful experience, because I could talk about birds with people,” she said. “I was one of the only women who was involved with birds and certainly the youngest of this group.”

Beyond making lifelong friends, Raffin came away from that meeting with some birds that she received as a gift, along with some birds she bought. All of the birds were impaired in some form or another.

After attending the Christmas party, Raffin began receiving birds as gifts with physical impairments in some form or another. After receiving a bird, Raffin would purchase a mate for the bird, because she observed that birds are happier with mates.

“They are flock animals; they need to be with others of their kind and it seemed too cruel to minus to them,” Raffin said. “The birds that we purchased were not expensive and they seemed to be easy to be found.”

Not much later, Raffin founded Pandemonium Aviaries.

Pandemonium began to acquire a wide range of bird species as a result of taking them from whoever would give them. The aviary took birds from rescue groups, humane societies, and from individuals who were sick or were in hospice care.

“We were taking vastly different birds, from fruit eaters to pollinators to nectar eaters to grain eaters,” Raffin said. “It became a very, very complicated process to take care of these birds, and very time consuming.”

Additionally, Raffin was building aviaries, each time thinking it would be her last one. As a result, the aviaries were set up more for display, as opposed to efficiency.

“It is beautiful, but it is not efficient,” Raffin said. “And it’s not set up for breeding as much as it’s set up for the comfort of the birds.”

In 2005, the aviary experienced a change in direction.

Saving Species from Extinction

Previously, Raffin had been opposed to breeding.

“I felt that my way of being of service was to take in unwanted birds,” she said. “If I had any born, that was less space so I wasn’t doing breeding intentionally.”

Raffin had a pair of Green-Naped Pheasant Pigeons with whom she became very close. The female died, causing its mate to cry endlessly in mourning. So, she decided to buy a mate. When Raffin went in search of a mate, she discovered that there were none to be sold and that any in existence were considered so rare that they were held back and traded only among a select group of bird breeders whose policy it was to exchange rare birds, not to sell them.

“It’s a whole culture which is done on a handshake, and its done in an implied promise that if I give you a bird today, and I need a bird 20 years from now, you’ll give me the bird 20 years from now,” Raffin said.

In order to help her bird, Raffin decided to become more active in the world of bird breeders. She joined the Avicultural Society of America and attended their meetings, developed relationships with other bird breeders, and wrote for their journal about the relationships with birds.

“I do think that I speak animal,” she said. “I’m able to observe things that perhaps someone who is more interested in breeding for sale might not be able to do.”

In her quest to find a mate for her Green-Naped Pheasant Pigeon, Raffin discontinued her rescue operations to a certain extent and decided to focus her efforts on breeding rare and endangered birds for their return to the wild, and not to be pets.

“So, I am in favor of breeding birds, but I am not in favor of breeding all birds,” Raffin said. “I think that there are birds that are not suited by temperament or by their physiology to be pets. I believe that these birds should not be bred as pets. I believe that they should be bred in great numbers if they are endangered in the wild, for conservation purposes, and I believe that there should be joint projects with other organizations that protect habitats.”

Building an ARC

As a result of this change in direction, Raffin formed a project modeled after Noah’s Ark, entitled, "Avian Recovery for Conservation (ARC)."

“We will gather up the animals and keep them safe until the place where they belong is available and safe for them,” Raffin said.

ARC will manage five locations where bird species will reside and breed in order to proliferate. ARC will follow conservation efforts around the world used on site where an animal species is disappearing. If a conservation group has determined that the main cause of a species’ disappearance is human related, such as poaching, the organization will make it economically viable for the people who are poaching to act as guardians rather than exploiting the species, which is implemented through such methods as ecotourism.

“Ecotourism is becoming a bigger and bigger source of economic income, especially for smaller countries,” said Sharla Ansorge, the medical director for Pandemonium Aviaries.

In order to convert the individuals who are selling the birds into guardians, ARC will buy their bird stock, allowing them to keep their birds. In return, these guardians must promise three things: They will sell ARC their offspring, they will teach younger people the art of raising the birds, and thirdly, when they die or retire, ARC will take possession of the birds.

“This gives the bird keepers, aviculturists and bird breeders a way to know that their legacy continues,” Raffin said. “It gives them money right now while they are able to use it, and it preserves the knowledge about the flocks for posterity in a way that’s thoughtful and useful and competent.”

While there are many challenges, the biggest challenge right now is funding. It is estimated that each species will require $3.5 million to save from extinction.

“For us, if we could get a $12 million endowment, we could be up and running tomorrow and we could have everything done within months. That’s how prepared we are,” Raffin said.

The first two sites for ARC will be located in California, while the other three will be located in more tropical environments.

Saving a species of bird might not sound instrumental to some, but to the environment and the dwindling habitats, saving a species of bird from extinction has monumental effects.

“Everything in the world is interconnected,” said Alex Chu, a volunteer at Pandemonium Aviaries who graduated from Stanford in 2009 with a degree in biology. “Plant health depends on the wildlife inhabiting that plant environment, be it insects, birds, whatever, and if you just yank out a block from that foundation, you can end up toppling that foundation.”

For more information, visit www.pandemoniumaviaries.org.

Visit Los Altos Patch tomorrow for a video about Pandemonium Aviaries.

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