The Sancticy of Parrot Life.

[Jayd]

In the year 2000 the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and the World Parrot Trust published their “Action Plan.”

 

Noting that “No other group of birds has been subjected to more exploitation, numerically and financially, than parrots,” the WPT called upon the millions of ordinary people who keep psittacines to “accept more responsibility for the survival of parrots in the wild and the welfare of existing captive parrots.”

 

I’m one of the millions of ordinary people who live with a parrot, so I’m going to try to do my share.

 

According to journalist Mira Tweti, author of "Parrots and People," there are between 40 and 60 million companion birds in the USA alone, perhaps half of them parrots. If just 1% of us bird "owners" began to lobby vigorously for the conservation and protection of parrots, we’d have an enormous influence.

 

But we can’t do it alone. We also need the cooperation of the parrot industry—those who profit from parrots. They includes cage and accessory makers, food suppliers and distributors, pet stores, and of course breeders.

 

On the conservation side of the equation, 28% of the 330 known parrot species are threatened with extinction. The parrots we love are decimated by the bird trade, destruction and fragmentation of native habitats, and hunting for food, feathers or for crop protection.

 

Parrots did fine for many millions of years before they ran into people.

 

Birds in general are perhaps the only living dinosaurs. They survived the extinction events that finished off other dinosaurs because they had the most powerful brains. That made them more adaptable, more capable of prospering in emerging ecological niches.

 

European parrot fossils have been dated at 54 million years, although modern parrots may be “only” 20- 23 million years old.

 

Parrots flourish in warm regions of South America, Africa and Australasia. They love the sun, the verdant tropical forest and the open sky.

 

What got them in the most trouble with us? Their brains, their looks and the fact that we want their land.

 

But conserving their habitat and outlawing their importation is only half the battle.

 

We also have the vast responsibility to protect those many millions of parrots who live in captivity.

 

Most of that job is educational. We need to teach our children that parrots are not commodities, not things. We need to acknowledge the sanctity of parrot life. As awareness increases, we’ll become better (and surely fewer) parronts. We won’t buy and sell parrots on a whim. We won’t release them to fend for themselves or kill them when we get bored with them. We will treat them with the respect we accord to people, to each other. They will join our “each other,” our community of consciousness and conscience.

 

Illustration: Sinornithosaurus millenii, a flying, feathered dinosaur ancestor of modern birds

Posted by David Howard at 10:03 PM 0 comments

Labels: african grey, african grey parrot, animal consciousness, animal rights, Deep Ecology, wilderness, World Parrot Trust

[Elvenking]

Good awareness post. It's a shame that it is so hard to get messages like this out to the general public.

[JillyBeanz]

 

We also have the vast responsibility to protect those many millions of parrots who live in captivity.

 

My goodness - I could have just reiterated this post and agreed with EVERYTHING (which I of course do) - but this is FUNDAMENTAL for any potential or current parrot owner - it is our duty, our aim. Please follow wisely.

 

What an absolutely FANTASTIC passage - and actually moves me (and that says something - I'm hard as nails!!!). Thank you for finding this Jay - what an insight.

[Jayd]

Will we ever learn? Or make ourselves ex-stink? One by one were making parrots and other animals disappear...

Edited May 30, 2010 by Jayd

[Elvenking]

Our world makes things like this sit in the background, so many other things going on...it is my sincerest wish..that this was not true. I am just happy that i can find people...who find the greater of things sacred. Thank you all for being here.

[Mawnee]

Great post!

 

 

I make the joke all the time that we have a baby dinosuar in the house now

[Xtreme575]

Thanks Jay, another interesting read for us. Reading the article with a critical eye, I am at a bit of a loss. Is the author asking the reading to "educate" others on how to treat parrots? I'm not really understanding the intention of the author. Obviously this is a great educational piece based on what appears to be sound science, but it lacks the citations to give us that assurance, and even though the author has used a couple styles of rhetoric to "persuade" the reader, and this is done effectively, I still do not know what the author is asking of me. Sorry, perhaps I'm just a little thick today from being up so late last night, but I need some help.

[Jayd]

Awareness, to educate what is going on, to make aware to the next generation.

[Xtreme575]

Thanks Jay, I'll do this with pride. But this article also motivated me to make a small financial donation to my local exotic bird sanctuary, Greyhaven. Here is the link if anyone is curious. They do great work, and I am looking forward to becoming more involved as soon as I am finished school and have more time. It's about an hour from where I live.

 

http://www.greyhaven.bc.ca/

 

Thanks for posting this!

[Jayd]

Thanks Jay, I'll do this with pride. But this article also motivated me to make a small financial donation to my local exotic bird sanctuary, Greyhaven. Here is the link if anyone is curious. They do great work, and I am looking forward to becoming more involved as soon as I am finished school and have more time. It's about an hour from where I live.

http://www.greyhaven.bc.ca/

Thanks for posting this!

BLESS YOU... Jayd