Meet the man who cares for 4,000 wild parakeets, after a deadly tsunami left them displaced

BY: JESSICA BEUKER

As 2004 was coming to a close, a deadly tsunami rocked the eastern world. On December 26, the Indian Ocean Earthquake triggered a series of deadly tsunamis along the coast.

It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history, killing approximately 230,000 people and displacing millions.

It wasn’t just humans who were left without a home, but much of the wildlife as well. This was the case for two exotic green parakeets, which found safety on the back porch of a man named Joseph Sekar.

Sekar, a camera repairman in Chennai, India, quickly noticed the birds and gave them some food. The birds hung around his home, and what started as a kind gesture grew into a part-time job, as thousands more hungry and displaced birds began to flock to his home. Today, Sekar cares for over 4,000 wild parakeets.

Sekar has earned the title of ‘Birdman’ in his town, as more and more birds continue to flock to his house for their morning meal.

According to Colossal, the 62-year-old spends about 40 per cent of his own income on food for the birds, which visit for their meals twice a day.

He rises every morning at 4 a.m. and begins cooking giant pots of rice, which he puts out twice a day on a latticework of boards on the roof of his house.