The Saga of Elijah the Macaw

On Wednesday evening, May 2, 2007, a huge Macaw flew into the interior courtyard of Temple Beth-El, the Jacobson Garden. Appropriately, we named him "Elijah." He was stunned, but not hurt, and obviously someone's pet, because he was so tame. He immediately took to one of our teachers, and remained on her arm for a couple of hours, while we scoured San Antonio for some agency that would help us to figure out what to do with "Elijah." Thanks to Temple member and animal maven, Cathy Rosenthal, we found the River City Bird Club, who sent a member of Alamo Exhibition Bird Club to pick him up and care for him until we found his owner. The next day, May 3, we found the owners, who had the Green-Winged Macaw, named "Big Bird," since he was a baby, 20 years ago. They live in the vicinity of the Temple, and were VERY happy to have him back.

Cathy Rosenthal, who writes a syndicated column for the San Antonio Express-News about animals and their issues, prepared a piece on her blog for May 4 about "Elijah." In Cathy's words:

"It was all a bit exciting for Temple Beth El's Religious School kids, but they got to watch as people do what they should do when they find an animal in need -- get help. They didn't just watch and hope the bird would fly away. It took several hours for them to locate someone who could properly care for the Macaw. Kudos to them for showing kids how to make a difference."

See the photos below for a pictorial accounting of this amazing saga.

To read more about Macaws, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaw.

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