It is with a great deal of sadness and dismay that Weekaboo Parrot Products is announcing that, as of Monday, August 30rd, 2021, we will no longer be offering Littles Grassland Blend for sale to the public.
We apologize profusely for any inconvenience or hardship that you may experience because of this incredibly difficult decision. Over the course of the past two years, your patronage has been invaluable to the support and care of all of the avian residents at Marden’s Ark Avian Refuge. Littles Grassland Blend has been more successful than we ever dreamed – as evidenced by how quickly the stock sold out when a new batch became available. We can never thank you enough for your support.
The primary reason behind our decision to cease the sale of LGB is due to issues being created by a disgruntled former board member of Marden’s Ark, Krissi Geary-Boehm. We here at Marden’s Ark hate drama & do our very best to avoid it wherever possible. In order to provide the background and reasoning that has gone into our decision, discussion of this drama is an unfortunate, unavoidable matter.
In short, Ms. Geary-Boehm has decided to attack both the rescue and the dry mix bird food that has been our primary financial support through the tough times of the pandemic. She is doing so by smearing a product that she has received and willingly fed to her birds at no cost for many years, as well as harming the reputation of Marden’s Ark. Ironically, it was this person who goaded us to produce and sell the blend to the public. She was also the person who set up and managed the initial “testers” group. As someone who related that she had significant financial issues, from the very early stages she had been the recipient of assistance from Marden’s Ark in the form of “Outreach Care Packages”. She was completely aware that we made the food for our own flock and not for distribution and that it was made in the same building the birds were housed in. Knowing all of this, she was still very comfortable in requesting, accepting and feeding the food to her birds.
Prior to offering LGB for sale to the public, all production was moved to a bird-free separate building. To do otherwise would have been completely against the manufacturing best practices that we follow and that Ms. Geary-Boehm is now insinuating we do not keep. We may not be officially inspected, but every batch and bag of Littles Grassland Blend has been produced in a bird-free facility, with processes that meet exacting standards.
Why aren’t we “inspected and licensed?” Because that costs a lot of money and we are focused on keeping our price within the reach of people who love their birds and want the best for them. Again, we are a non-profit corporation without deep pockets or outside investors handing us money. Every dollar spent on something that doesn’t directly add to the quality or value of the product is a dollar lost to the care of the Marden’s Ark flock – or one that we must pass on to you through the price of the product.
AT NO TIME PRIOR TO ALL THIS RECENT DRAMA DID KRISSI EVER QUESTION THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS. AT NO TIME DID SHE EVER EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER ANYTHING TO DO WITH LITTLE’S GRASSLAND BLEND.
IN FACT – she ordered the food on a regular basis. At no time has she ever paid for the food (or even the shipping costs). So now she has begun berating the food that she had freely fed her birds and had received for years in charity. A food she knew had no analysis and was not produced in a “licensed factory”. A food product that she felt so confident about that she was the number one promoter for a very long time.
So what’s really going on? Her attacks and sudden realization that she had “questions” about LGB began shortly after she was called to account for an irregularity in a fundraising auction. This issue involved the personal mementos – feathers – of a supporter’s parrot that had passed, which were to be incorporated into a custom “Dream Catcher” that Krissi offered to make. The feathers were sent to Krissi, but the dream catcher was never produced. Multiple people attempted to resolve the issue in an adult manner for the better part of a year, to no effect. It became our duty to press this issue until it could be resolved, especially as it involved invaluable and irreplaceable tokens of a departed parrot that Krissi had put at risk. Without going into further detail, the situation was ultimately resolved, but Krissi did not react as an adult would. All of the subsequent drama, half-truths, disparagement and outright lies told about Marden’s Ark and in regards to Littles Grassland Blend have their roots in her deeply troubling need to exact retribution for a situation that she created.
As for the assertation that she did not know about the need for inspections and such until just now – that is a LIE – she was party to a phone call with our lawyer back in 2019, where the lawyer explained exactly this and mentioned that they typically do not go after non-profits for selling home-made foods and treats, as it is a very common way for rescues to raise money at fundraisers. As for her assertions about the food and her bird’s health, if the protein was too high, why then are none of our necropsies showing renal damage due to high protein levels since the smaller birds here eat LGB as their primary dry food. We have NEVER had one bird die from renal issues due to the food, and we’ve been feeding LGB for two years longer than it has been available to anyone else (except Krissi, who due to her constant bemoaning of her financial woes was given the food as part of our outreach, which she FREELY took advantage of).
So, to avoid further drama, accusations, or potential legal problems, we are removing Littles Grassland Blend from the market. We will be making it available as one of several choices as a thank you gift for donating, to our supporters and donors. We DEEPLY apologize to those who have supported us throughout this ordeal. We hope to in the future have a building that we can have properly inspected and get the proper permits (which all costs money and will of course sadly drive up the price which we have tried to keep as low as possible so as many birds as possible can eat healthy food). We will keep you updated as this plan progresses.