Second Chance Conure Rescue
Rescuing, Rehoming, Rehabilitating & Boarding Medium & Small Parrots since 2010
About Us:
Second Chance Conure Rescue
Opened its doors in May of 2010 in Vacaville, California. What started out as a way to help out one Conure that needed to be taken out of an abusive home soon turned into a full-scale rescue operation housing, rescuing and boarding hundreds of birds over the next ten years.
As the rescue grew, we also began working with schools and local groups to educate the community about proper parrot care, husbandry and training. Soon after we began boarding and throughout the many tragic fires that have occurred in Northern California over the last decade, we have worked with many parrot owners who were displaced due to fires and offered free unlimited boarding for any birds affected by local wildfires. In May of 2017 Second Chance Conure Rescue was recognized by the Doris Day Animal Foundation because of our work with displaced birds and their families.
In August of 2020 Second Chance Conure Rescue relocated to Colfax, California in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains and continues to offer our services to all parrot lovers throughout Northern California.
Pictured below are some of the birds that we have helped over the past 10 years
Our Founders Janet Bizjak & Beebop
Little B Our Mascot
Janet and Rio
About the Owner:
Janet Bizjak
Janet Bizjak is the founding owner and manager of Second Chance Conure Rescue. Janet has had a passion for all animals since a very young age. At the age of 12 she was given a yellow and green parakeet that she named Leon (that's backwards for Noel as Leon was a Christmas gift) it was with this tiny bird that Janet's love for birds, their care and training emerged.
In May of 2009 Janet became disabled with a neurological disorder called Dysautonomia. The condition left her unable to continue working as the office manager for a veterinary clinic. It was about this time that she began looking for something to do to fill her empty days at home.
Enter Beeboop: In March of 2010 Janet visited a Petco to purchase some pet supplies. While there she noticed a small green cheek conure alone in a cage. While walking by the little bird jumped to the front of the cage trying to get some attention. Being a softie, Janet asked an employee if she could see the bird. The employee opened the cage and the little green cheek jumped onto her shoulder, snuggled up under her hair and needless to say Janet went home with a new friend that night.
A Passion Reborn: Life with Beebop made Janet realize what had been missing in her life for so long. Beebop filled the empty days at home with love, joy and the silly antics that only life with a Green Cheek Conure could provide. Janet and Beebop did everything together. They went shopping together, had breakfast together at their favorite restaurant and visited friends and family often. Beebop became a shadow that was aways somewhere close to his favorite person, Janet. Soon another Conure JacJac, a Sun Conure joined the family, and the Conure passion grew in the Bizjak household.
Rio-The First Rescue: In July of 2010 while visiting a home to purchase a used cage Janet observed a Sun Conure that was not being taken care of properly. Concerned by the filth the bird was living in and the harassment it was enduring from the family's toddler she inquired about purchasing the bird. The owner of the bird stated the bird was mean and untrainable and that she would be willing to sell it if Janet wanted the bird. It was that fateful day in July that the "untrainable" bird Rio came home to what was soon to become Second Chance Conure Rescue. And twenty minutes after getting Rio home he was comfortably perched on Janet's shoulder like he'd been there forever....so much for untrainable.
And the rest is History: After seeing the conditions that Rio had been living in, Janet realized that there were probably numerous birds that were not being properly cared for. So, she set out to change the lives of as many of those unwanted, mistreated and lonely birds as she could. Ten years and hundreds of birds later Second Chance Conure Rescue is still saving birds as well as offering training, parrot education and boarding.