Over 26 years of avian experience 

LANDRUM—The Landrum Veterinary Hospital has added a new staff member with an extensive background in a field that the Landrum and Polk County area lacks. Dr. Parker has over 26 years of experience working with avian animals, and offers a special skillset to the Landrum community. 

Dr. Parker grew up in Holly Springs, and said that her family has been in the Upstate for nearly two centuries. Dr. Parker moved to Atlanta in 1985 and stayed for almost 26 years where she worked on pets of all shapes and sizes. In 1994, Dr. Parker began working with the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, Georgia. 

The Chattahoochee Nature Center has a special raptor rehabilitation program that Dr. Parker is still involved with even after moving back to the Upstate. Dr. Parker said that the Chattahoochee Nature Center currently has 40 program birds in addition to the birds in the rehab center. 

“I think birds are the easiest (animals) to work with,” Dr. Parker said. “It is what you are comfortable with and good at, I also really like the big birds which puts some people off.”

Dr. Parker’s love of animals extends well beyond her job at the Landrum Veterinary Hospital, she jokingly said that she has brought her work home a few times.

“I have four of my own dogs, I am currently fostering one dog for a tech, eight cats, one turtle, an Eclectus parrot, a donkey, and I co-own a horse with my daughter.”

“All that, in addition to three kids and a husband at home,” Dr. Parker said jokingly.  “The husband is the hardest animal (to work with).”

The Eclectus parrot was rescued from Roswell, GA while she was working at one of the rescue clinics. “They are one of the few species that you can tell the sex based on their coloring,” Dr. Parker said. “The females are brighter and the feathers look more like hair.”

Dr. Parker spent a long period of time away from the Upstate and was surprised by how much the area has grown from what she remembered. 

“I am enjoying being back, the entire upstate has grown so much. I love it, I thought it was funny when I heard it was a beauty destination, because I had been gone for so long there was almost nothing here when I left,” Dr. Parker said. “It has been fun exploring some of the old and new places and showing my kids things that they may not have known.”  

By Samuel Robinson

Sam.robinson@tryondailybulletin.com