About a decade ago, 73-year-old Catia Lattouf de Arida began her journey of offering a sanctuary to injured and orphaned hummingbirds in her Mexico City apartment. Today, her “hummingbird hospital” has grown, becoming her way of expressing the sanctity of life and the value of these tiny birds.
Lattouf’s bird sanctuary began with her first hummingbird, Gucci, who had an injured eye.
“We cut out the eye. He was left with one eye, but all right. And I said: “Where am I going to put it?” I took out my glasses, and the box was labeled Gucci. So I named him Gucci,” Lattouf remembers.
A lease of new life
Lattouf says that she began caring for hummingbirds a year after surviving colon cancer in 2011 — she had only been given two months to live. After rescuing Gucci, Lattouf resisted becoming too affectionate with him at first. But over time, he became her companion in her times of uncertainty.
“This was in 2012, and I was still scared that the cancer would come back because it hadn’t even been two years,” Lattouf said.
Gucci would perch on her computer while she worked, and Lattouf says this helped her cope with loneliness and sadness. Not only had she been fighting cancer, but her husband had also died in 2009. Also, her illness forced her to sell five luxurious boutiques to focus on physical and emotional healing.
“Rebirth. He gave me a new life.” Lattouf says of the nine months that Gucci lived with her.
A sanctuary of hummingbirds
After Gucci, neighbors and friends began bringing more hummingbirds to her home. She began to educate herself on ways to better care for hummingbirds, which weigh only 4 to 6 grams. Most of the birds brought to her are in poor health, and Lattouf and her assistant Cecilia get to work as soon as they arrive. They help examine, cure, and rehabilitate them until they can fly again.
“Most come to me as babies. Many come to me broken,” she said. Some have injuries from colliding with objects or falling from their nests. Others have developed infections from drinking contaminated water from bird feeders, which are popular in the city. Whatever the case, the “hummingbird nanny” never turns a bird away.
Most of the hummingbirds sleep in the same room as Lattouf. She lives with them until they can fly and feed themselves before moving them to another room in her house. When they are strong enough to be freed, they release them in a wooded area in Mexico City’s countryside.
The importance of hummingbirds to the ecosystem
According to Maria del Coro Arizmendi, an ornithologist at Mexico’s National Autonomous University, there are 22 species of hummingbirds in Mexico City and 57 species nationwide. Of these, berylline and broad-billed hummingbirds are the most common.
Hummingbirds pollinate various plants in the Americas and are critical in the food web. According to Pollinator Partnership, a conservation agency, most American plants have uniquely evolved to rely on these birds.
Hummingbirds’ spiritual significance in the Mayan culture
Besides their ecological importance, Lattouf says hummingbirds are linked significantly to the Mayan spiritual belief. Old beliefs say that as the birds move from flower to flower, they represent the resurrection of departed souls. A visit from a hummingbird signifies that the soul of your loved one has finally found peace.
“The legends about the hummingbird are so lovely,” she says. “It was always a sacred bird to the Maya. Their gods carved it from a jade arrow, the legend says, and when they saw people trying to trap them, they came down and said: ‘Whoever puts a hummingbird in a cage will be cursed for the rest of their life.'”
How Lattouf gained worldwide recognition
The 73-year-old “hummingbird nanny” has rehabilitated and released hundreds of birds for over a decade. When someone brings a bird to her, she keeps them updated with the recovery progress. She even invites them to witness the release of those that recover well enough, and that’s how she became a hit among amateur and professional bird enthusiasts on TikTok.
In April, someone released a video of her “hummingbird hospital” after noticing the care and dedication Lattouf puts into her “patients.” The video has more than 1.5 million views; since then, demands for her services have increased. She now has about 60 hummingbirds under her care.
Lattouf disdains people who keep hummingbirds in cages, so she also dedicates her time to educating bird keepers and rescuers in Mexico and across the Americas.
“I even coach (people in) Peru, Guatemala, Argentina, (the Mexican state of) Chiapas, (the city of) Monterrey. (They tell me) ‘I found a hummingbird; what do I do?’ So I take queries, videos, and WhatsApp posts. (I ask for the details about the bird, and I tell them) … how to (care for it) … I do the coaching, and many of them survive,” she says.
Conservation efforts
Hummingbirds may be one of the leading pollinators, but they face the threat of extinction from grackles and humans. Still, Lattouf believes they can bounce back if people care for their environment. She also recommends proper care of hummingbird feeders, planting their favorite flowers, and preparing homemade nectar for the birds (one part sugar, four parts water).
“Nothing is guaranteed,” she concludes. “I believe God gives life and takes it, but we do everything possible.”
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