Charlie Davis and Glory are the dream team who love to help people. But one thing about Glory is she is a green-cheeked conure, or small parrot, in other words.
Davis got Glory the parrot while he was visiting his son in Las Vegas and found her in a pet store. They have now been together for about eight years.
Glory got her name after Davis saw her colors and was inspired by “God’s glory.”
“There is no reason for a bird to be as colorful as Glory with all the beautiful and primary rainbow colors … because she could eat the banana if she was just black, but the only reason for that kind of color is that God was showing off and he was showing off when he made Glory. So that’s why we call her Glory,” Davis said.
Glory is one of 38 therapy birds registered in the past 10 years in the country under the Pet Partners organization, said Annie Peters, president and CEO of Pet Partners.
Pet Partners is an organization that uses animal therapy teams to help bring comfort and joy to people across in challenging circumstances, like hospitals.
Davis registered Glory with Pet Partners four years ago, beginning in schools, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers before they began doing their work in hospitals.
Davis and Glory began working at local hospitals just a year ago.
“I really enjoy doing that (going to hospitals). And I think Glory really enjoys it, too. She likes being held by people. And so, it’s neat to see that,” Davis said. “It also gives me a chance to be able to share with people about God, too, you know, because you can’t think about Glory without thinking about God, because of what he has done and how beautiful he’s made her.”
He added that he and Glory visit Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital two times a week and Kaiser Permanente two times a month to hang out with patients.
Davis said their routine when volunteering is they check in at the hospital and go through the floors to see who wants a visit from Glory, and they just hang out.
“And lots of times they’ll put their finger out and hold Glory. And much times the older patients will start talking to her and that kind of stuff … so I give each patient as much time as they would like to have with Glory and Glory normally will give them a kiss — if they put Glory up to her face, she kisses them,” Davis said.
During these visits, he’s noticed details about Glory’s traits.
“Glory has a real affinity for cancer patients. Whenever she’s with someone who you find out is dealing with cancer, she gives them tons of affection, and she’ll just get on their chest and go up to their chin and start kissing them and things like that,” Davis said.
Davis said that Glory has always been the kind of bird who loved to be held and was able to be handed to anyone.
“I socialized her (with people) early on, even long before I decided we were going to be doing care at the animal work. She was the kind of bird that I could hand off to, you know, practically anybody. And so, that really worked,” Davis said.
He added that Glory and other parrots were different. Davis said that birds typically latch onto only one person and everyone else is the enemy. But it was different with Glory.
“Everybody else is a friend with Glory … with the exception of my wife, and the reason is, and that this is just the way birds are, I wish it wasn’t this way,” Davis said. “I wish my wife could hold Glory and not get bit, but Glory views my wife as competition.”
After telling his stories, Davis said he had one thing he wanted the community to know was that if people see a man with a bird on his shoulder riding a bike around town, it’s him and Glory having fun.
