# Please Help!



## CaptainQuark (Oct 26, 2005)

*Please help The World Parrot Trust to put an end to the barbaric trade in wild-caught birds.* 






 *"African grey parrots are among the most heavily harvested of all parrots, with tens of thousands arriving in the EU each year. Many fail to survive the arduous journey due to disease and inhumane treatment."*

The spread towards Europe of Avian flu has seen the EU place a temporary ban on the import of wild-caught birds. But this ban needs to be *permanent* to save the lives of the millions of birds that die a horrible death every year to feed the European pet shop trade. For every bird that reaches a pet shop in Europe, another four have died of dehydration, starvation, suffocation, stress or worse. 
Read the report on the World Parrot Trust's website.

*Please sign the petition to stop the import of wild-caught birds and consider becoming a member or making a donation.* 

www.worldparrottrust.org 

I know that this is not an African Grey forum, but this is something I have come to feel very strongly about. And the trade in wild-caught birds affects all species. Here's why I'm so passionate about this issue:






This is _my_ 16-year old African Grey parrot, *Ndhlovu*. She's a fantastic bird! Everyone who meets her falls completely in love with her. She has never had her wings clipped so she flies beautifully, but we have trained her to wear a harness so she goes everywhere with us. This photograph was taken at our local country show in the summer of 2005, where she was a great hit and the life and soul of the party. She _never_ bites anyone and will unhestatingly jump onto anybody's shoulder to theive a taste of ice cream.

_And she was bred in Britain.* We just don't need to import any more!*_

In addition to Ndhlovu, we have just taken on a rescue parrot. This poor African Grey was in the hands of people whose morals were such that she was given to a drugs dealer as a payment for drugs. She has been very badly treated, having been both physically abused  beaten and left without food and water for days  and suffered mental abuse. Greys are such good mimics that she has, in a way, told her own story; but it was not a happy one and the language means that much of it cannot be repeated in polite society. As a consequence of her history, she has plucked herself completely bald, is terrified of hands and is currently on a course of anti-depressants!. All we can do is to give her a safe, loving home for the rest of her days and hope that, even if she can't ever trust any other people, she can at least be happy in the knowledge that she will never be abused with us.

*We need to stop this trade.*

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE sign the petition at www.worldparrottrust.org

Thank you,   

CQ


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## Xlator (Oct 26, 2005)

Signed. Spreading it around places on the great ether where I am active... trying to do my bit.


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## Convert (Oct 26, 2005)

That is truly horrible.

I am doing the same, thank you for alerting us.


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## bbloke (Oct 27, 2005)

I've added my name too, CaptainQuark.  It's awful that we so often transport animals under such cruel conditions.  

(BTW, I kept getting sent to the Microsoft page at first.  I noticed the link was actually:   http://http//:www.worldparrottrust.org    so I stripped out the extra http etc.)


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## CaptainQuark (Oct 27, 2005)

Thanks bbloke *fixed that now.


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## Gig' (Oct 27, 2005)

CQ 

I honestly would like to sign it but eventhough I'm Italian I reside in switzerland still not part of EU  

so the least I'm able to do is spread the word around to my EU friends/relatives hoping they will somehow sign on my behalf...

BTW great initiative CQ  ::love::


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## CaptainQuark (Oct 27, 2005)

Hi Gig,

I don't think you _have_ to be an EU citizen to have an opinion and to want to stop this barbaric trade. But if you don't feel you can participate, then that's OK with me.

Thanks for the support.  ::love:: 

CQ


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## Gig' (Oct 27, 2005)

CaptainQuark said:
			
		

> Hi Gig,
> 
> I don't think you _have_ to be an EU citizen to have an opinion and to want to stop this barbaric trade. But if you don't feel you can participate, then that's OK with me.
> 
> ...



Well I'm an EU citizen living in a non EU country so if it does not "disqualify" me than consider it as done.

Sorry if my post seemed to let anyone feel like I didn't want to comit  

update : Did it and was given the indication that 25'800 people participated I find it amazing and hopefully it will be applicable to switzerland too  ::love::


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## CaptainQuark (Feb 28, 2006)

*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!


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## reed (Mar 8, 2006)

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.


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## CaptainQuark (Jun 22, 2006)

*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


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## Rhisiart (Jun 22, 2006)

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


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## CaptainQuark (Jun 22, 2006)

Splendid feller that y'are (for a Welshman  )


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## Rhisiart (Jun 22, 2006)

I think so (well for a Taffy)!


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## bbloke (Jun 22, 2006)

CaptainQuark said:
			
		

> Splendid feller that y'are (for a Welshman  )


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


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## Ferdinand (Jun 23, 2006)

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


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