Uwanted Parrot Population soars in US, what can we do?

[findi]

Agree it is very dependent on better education and hopefully the breeding/selling industry to adopt some sort of gold standard industry code of practice. Not only sticking to good health, husbandry and genetic standards but making a commitment to pre-educate buyers on the need to properly care for their charges.
For starters that parrot ownership means a commitment to be a responsible owner that could last 20years or much much longer. A lot of human relationships don’t last that long, so people have to be really clear about the implications.

Awareness campaigns and information making people aware of the terrible situations unwanted birds are subjected to would hopefully help.

I don't know if there are any rescue centres for parrots in Australia, i'm sure there needs to be though especially when there are stories like this cropping up from time to time. http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story ... s/?src=rss

Thanks very much for your thoughts and the link..I'll pas along on my blog, Best, Frank

[findi]

There are plenty of rescues over here, most of them are pretty busy too and yes they even end up with the rarer species in them, it's sad and the people who run the rescues deserve to be recognised, problem I see is that many of these rescues are currently small time home situations and they could easily be over run. I can see the problems experienced in the US happening here really soon, I see a glut of rescue birds coming in probably the next 5-10 years, prices are dropping on many of the larger parrots (eclectus that were around $1000 5 years ago are now only $5-600 and others also are becoming much more affordable) and I've seen plenty of them offered up as rescue birds....once again I can see the problem escalating as more are bred to meet the market but many are yet to reach the rescue stage, the market is reaching the glut stage and the rescue side can only follow. Have a look on any parrot site and you will see HEAPS of hand tamed birds of all varieties being sold.

Thank you...overwhelmed rescue centers, even large ones, are a real concern as you say (same, here, true for dogs, cats, some reptiles); home based ones are especially difficult to run properly. Another problem is that of unscrupulous people who "adopt" birds and then re-sell them to others; please see The Dark Side of Parrot Rescue for a bit more on this http://bitly.com/IZyb4M

Best, Frank

[Netsurfer]

Agree it is very dependent on better education and hopefully the breeding/selling industry to adopt some sort of gold standard industry code of practice. Not only sticking to good health, husbandry and genetic standards but making a commitment to pre-educate buyers on the need to properly care for their charges.

For starters that parrot ownership means a commitment to be a responsible owner that could last 20years or much much longer. A lot of human relationships don’t last that long, so people have to be really clear about the implications.

Awareness campaigns and information making people aware of the terrible situations unwanted birds are subjected to would hopefully help.

I don't know if there are any rescue centres for parrots in Australia, i'm sure there needs to be though especially when there are stories like this cropping up from time to time. http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story ... s/?src=rss

These guys appear to be concerned about any unwanted birds or are they really?: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/peakhurs ... 1005084237

[Myzomela]

I don't know if there are any rescue centres for parrots in Australia, i'm sure there needs to be though especially when there are stories like this cropping up from time to time. http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story ... s/?src=rss

The Parrot Rescue Centre run by Zarita and jamie on the Gold Coast is one such centre but their resources are constantly stretched.
They also make & sell their own parrot toys made from native timber, gumnuts etc which are great for pet parrot owners.

See
www.parrotrescuecentre.com

[spanna]

Agree it is very dependent on better education and hopefully the breeding/selling industry to adopt some sort of gold standard industry code of practice. Not only sticking to good health, husbandry and genetic standards but making a commitment to pre-educate buyers on the need to properly care for their charges.

For starters that parrot ownership means a commitment to be a responsible owner that could last 20years or much much longer. A lot of human relationships don’t last that long, so people have to be really clear about the implications.

Awareness campaigns and information making people aware of the terrible situations unwanted birds are subjected to would hopefully help.

I don't know if there are any rescue centres for parrots in Australia, i'm sure there needs to be though especially when there are stories like this cropping up from time to time. http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story ... s/?src=rss

These guys appear to be concerned about any unwanted birds or are they really?: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/peakhurs ... 1005084237

Nearly daily here in WA there are a couple of ads looking for free or unwanted birds. My question is "if they arent willing to pay for the birds, what level of care can they truly provide?"

[Red]

Nearly daily here in WA there are a couple of ads looking for free or unwanted birds. My question is "if they arent willing to pay for the birds, what level of care can they truly provide?"

Gumtree had a warning out on this scam. It seems some operators know that someone giving away older birds for free is likely to have many other birds making them suitable to rob. Others simply want to sell on old unwanted birds as young stock to make a quick buck.

I will never give away or sell cheap birds to anyone on gumtree. I have seen the condition such birds end up in because the owners are to cheap to buy decent food for any animal under their care.

[GregH]

The expectation of instant gratification has become the norm for everything and there are few people who are immune from this. I can see that the allure of colourful and anthropomorphised FIDS (ie. feathered kids I think was the term used elsewhere) is irresistible for some and I fear that the only thing that will prevent the purchase of birds that the owners can't handle is going to have to be further regulation and enforcement. I don't know about the USA but in Australia we tend to accept such interventions but I'd rather that education and common sense prevailed - however that's not likely! So if regulation is the way of the future then what about the present excess? I'm not a fan of PETA but their policy of euthanising unwanted and humanised birds is the most practical approach to the problem of any excess of unwanted birds. I hope that the situation here in Australia never reaches the proportions that occurs in the US but I'd like to see more people interested in keeping birds by treating them according to the needs for species held and not the misguided anthropomorphic whims of the owner.

[jusdeb]

As some of you know I have a Pet Page on facebook ..It amazes me how things go pear shaped with newly acquired " trendy birds "
Eckies being the worst off , people just have to have , no research done just pay big money and take it home .
Next thing your read is , It wont stop screeching , its plucking , it wont eat , it bites ....then wait for it For Sale ..

And so someone takes on someone else s problem bird only for the whole cycle to start again .

sadly there are not enough bird rescue places to accommodate the unwanted birds so they are left down the back to screech and pluck until an early death hits .

Same as dogs , cats people need to think before they take on a pet ..Its for life .

[maz]

Best one I saw was a conure that someone had for 48 hours, it started to bite (bit once) so that was it off it went sold....only 48 hours and they were looking for another bird to replace it, the person who bought it said it was the sweetest thing ever....some people just expect way too much from an animal and don't have any understanding of the behaviours involved.