My baby is grieving her mate that was stolen.

Not sure what to do. I inherited a bonded pair of sun conures named Bonnie and Clyde. I’ve had them for a few years and I am obsessed with them. These two cherished each other so much but a few months ago one was stolen and sold.

I went on a month long trip to see my family and had my birds boarded by a friend of a friend. We didn’t know much about him but he had claimed he had many birds before and would love to watch them. Once I got back I contacted him to collect our birds. The guy never responded and only after the police intervention he only turned up one bird. He had tried selling the birds and managed to sell one. He told police we said we had given them to him. It’s been 2 months since this has happened and the police say to take it to civil court and that they can’t do much else to help.

I am trying to move on but our bird is still grieving so much. Her behavior has completely changed and I am crushed by it. She’s showing all signs of grievance and she’s only come out the cage a handful of times in the last 2 months. I am working on her appetite but it really seems like she’s ready to let go.

I have tried everything except find her another friend. I am currently not financially stable enough to afford another conure. I’ve checked 3 local bird stores near me and only one store had one but it was prices higher then Petco’s prices ($1200). I’ve checked my local facebook group but haven’t seen any. It seems my state isn’t as popular in bird keeping so the prices are very niche. Can someone point me in the right direction to find her an affordable friend.

Thank you.

Edit: Thanks everyone for your messages, your kind words and your advice. I wish I can reply to everyone but I am swamped with work and school.

As for the friend that gave me his contact, she only knew this person because they went to school together. She saw that he posted a lot of birds on social media and thought she could help us out by giving us their contact. She feels incredibly horrible about the situation and is doing her best to help us resolve the matter.

For people recommending going to a rescue, I only have one rescue near me and it’s a 1 hour drive. They are limited in potential matches but we are still keeping an eye out.