Please Help!

[CaptainQuark]

Update:

Here's why we've got stop the import of all wild-caught birds into the EU –*quite apart from the obvious reason of trying to prevent Avian Flu from breaking out in Europe:



This is the new guy, Induna. He's a bit of a mystery bird, but we believe he's wild-caught and imported into the UK.

So why, you may ask yourself, does CQ have a wild-caught African Grey when this whole thread is about stopping such imports? Well, the sad story is that, we found Induna languishing in a filthy, dark cage, all on his own. The breeder that owned him had ben trying for some months to get rid of him, but as this poor bird was absolutely terrified of people and had developed a habit of biting to chase people off, he hadn't had any luck getting this guy a new home!

This is what we have been able to piece togther of his story so far:
He had originally been sold as a pet to a young family with children! Obviously a wild-caught bird isn't going to be any kind of pet, so we suspect that he just languished in his cage with little or no human contact, no toys to play with and nothing to do but sit and scream all day!

Kids and parrots don't mix – especially noisy, young kids and wild-caught birds! They obviously started hitting him and chucking things at him, so naturally, he started biting them at every opportunity. So this first family moved him on and the aforementioned breeder got hold of him.

If you put two birds in a small cage with a nest box, just one perch and nothing else to do, they'll breed – even if it's just to relieve the tedium! So that's what Induna did for the 5 years that this breeder had him. His mate died and he was all alone for months on end. The breeder was getting rid of all of his parrots for personal reasons, but he couldn't get rid of Induna.

Word got out on the parrot grapevine that we were looking for a companion for Ndhlovu, so we got to hear about him. I cannot describe the filth that he lived in. He was in such poor condition that we initially didn't want to have anything to do with him, but we took pity on the poor guy's plight and stumped up the £300 asking price.

Several hundred quid in vet's bills later and he's in much better condition. A good diet, lots of contact with people, more freedom than he's known since he was flying around free in Africa mean that he's turning into a big, strong feller, but he's still very nervous. Although he's not too afraid of us any more, he's still very reserved and will still often bite.

The only way we can stop this kind of thing from happening to poor innocent parrots is to BAN THE IMPORT OF WILD-CAUGHT BIRDS – PERMANENTLY!

PLEASE – check the sig, click on the links and sign the petition!

[reed]

Signed the petition yesterday. Ghastly.
Have you seen what the Chinese do with cats and how they do "it"?
It may be the fur collar around your jacket or in your gloves. Not fake. Real cat fur. But no label of course.

[CaptainQuark]

Update:

The European Union is due to vote on 31st July 2006 on whether or not to extend the ban on the import of wild-caught birds into the EU.

Since the temporary ban was imposed due to the fear of the spreading H5N1 Bird 'Flu virus, there has been a huge reduction in the number of parrots caught in the wild. But as soon as the ban is lifted, it will shoot up again, causing misery and terror to tens if not hundreds of thousands of birds all over the world every year!

Please sign the World Parrot Trust's online petition to show your support for this vote. It only takes a couple of minutes of your time, but the value of those minutes to the parrots of this world is inestimable!

Thank you,

CQ

[Rhisiart]

Signed today. Apparently I am the 28,593th person to sign the petition.

[CaptainQuark]

Splendid feller that y'are (for a Welshman )

[Rhisiart]

I think so (well for a Taffy)!

[bbloke]

Originally Posted by CaptainQuark

Splendid feller that y'are (for a Welshman )

Tsk, tsk, CQ! Don't you know it is wicked to mock the afflicted?!

[Ferdinand]

I also signed - thanks for bringing that up - its really horrible what they do to the birds.
Ferdinand