Madeleine Franco, who divides her time between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, is an award-winning business writer, and a work-from-home bird "mom" to a flock of platonic and highly interactive, non-breeding pet parrots, including some that are less frequently seen in aviculture. She is a founder and current president of the Southern Nevada Parrot Education, Rescue & Rehoming Society, a longtime member of the Wasatch Avian Education Society (Utah), and a member of the American Federation of Aviculture (AFA). Madeleine is a frequent speaker on parrots as pets (refeathering, socialization, husbandry tips and tricks, traveling with pet birds and pet evacuation preparedness). She also conducts local outreach by visiting schools and community centers with her traveling avians, known as The Parrot Troupers(TM).  In years past, Madeleine held a special purpose permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the rehabilitation of migratory waterfowl. Having acquired her first bird at the age of seven, a rather handsome English budgie named P.T., she became hooked on large hookbills, in what some would refer to as "mid-life," following a trip to Australia