The Lyre Bird

Disturbing News in BC – Banning Exotic Birds – Extremely Important

http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_city_maple_ridge/tricitynews/news/51340717.html

I have been involved in Political By Law issues in Oshawa for a number of years and this is an important piece of legislature that needs to be nipped in the bud immediately even though it is in BC.    During my involvement in By Law issues, City Councilors, look to see if another city have set a precedence and typically follow suit believing that it has been fully investigated and not challenged by other Cities/Townships etc.

If this piece of legislature is allowed to pass, it WILL sweep across the rest of Canada as it gives the Animal Rights folks a foot hold and credibility into the parrot world.

This is exactly how the Pit Bull Ban and other animal issues evolved.
I hope you will spread the word on this issue and voice your opinions to those in power in BC that this is totally unacceptable.

If we do not act now, within a very short period of time, exotic parrots will be banned from our homes faster than we can shake our heads!

How Smart Are Parrots

Here is a little video to show what a parrot is capable of.  Remember that parrots in your homes can do similar things.

Bragging Rights !

Recently we have joined a network of rescues all across North American which is helping to place even more parrots into loving homes.  It is also helping us to bounce ideas and advice off one another to assist each other.

During several discussions, I realized what a great job we have been doing in placing parrots into permanent homes.  Several rescues (US) were discussing the number of returned birds after placement two rescues responded that they had place 500 parrots in the past 10 yrs (very similar stats to our own) they have had 100 parrots returned to them! That is over 20% where the birds have to be relocated a second or even third time!

In our twelve years of operation, we have placed over 600 parrots into new homes and have only had 7 returned!  We had no idea how good we were doing until we got the statistics from some of these other rescues!  That is only 1%.  Although a zero return rate would be perfect, we did not realize how extraordinary that was and definitely worthy of bragging about!  Given that many of the birds arrive here with behavior problems, plucking issues etc we are very lucky that our numbers are this low.

We are now offering tips to other rescues to help them decrease the number of birds that are returned to them through behaviour modifications and screening processes.

Misconceptions About Rescue Parrots

Not all rescue parrots come from abused or neglected backgrounds.  Although there are some that do.  The majority are  given up by their owners due to no fault of their own but can no longer care for the birds.  Health issues, circumstances beyond their control, moves, deaths etc. are just some of the reasons that parrots end up coming into our care.

Due to our work in the avian community, we get asked regularly to help owners find new loving homes for the fids (feathered kids).  They count on us as they know our standards are high and we are highly involved in the avian community from bird clubs to humane societys and local vet colleges.  They want to utilize our experience and vast network to find the best placements for their birds.

Many of the birds that come to us have come from wonderful loving homes that due to unfortunate circumstances have to be placed into a new home.  The owners are devastated at having to give up their loved ones and have entrusted them into our care  to find a proper home for their loved ones.

We do get cases of abuse and neglect from time to time but most of the birds that come here are not abused or neglected.  It is still sad and devastating on the birds that they have to be removed from their loving homes. But cases of abuse are not common place.  You might find some of these birds here for months on end while we work on behaviours.  They are posted available for adoption in the event that another experienced person may be able to take on a bird with  some of these problems and do the behaviour modifications themselves.  This does happen on ocassion.  We also believe in full disclosure and make sure each potential adoptive home, understands with eyes wide open, what to expect then they bring a particular bird home.  Some are definitely harder to place than others but during their stay with us we work on behavior modifications to fix some of the problems they arrived with.

My own philosophy and how I have always viewed what we do is that the owners have come to us and entrusted us to find the best possible placement and most suitable home for their bird.  It is my job to make sure that the birds come first and their needs will be met regardless of who wants the bird.  This job I take very seriously.

We try not to refuse homes when people want a bird.  We try to direct them sometimes on a more appropriate bird than what they may be inquiring about.  As we are aware of the various species needs and abilities or we direct them to further their research before deciding on a parrot as a pet.

It is our firm belief that pet birds belong in  loving homes and deserve to be loved and given lots of attention.  We carefully match up the birds needs to what potential homes are able to offer the parrot.  Only then will an adoptoin take place.

If you look at our past successes and reference letters, you will see that we are good at what we do!

Please consider giving some of these wonderful second hand parrots a chance at a new life as they can make wonderful companions and most come already trained!