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Parrotz in the lab


Guest jamalbirdbiz

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Guest jamalbirdbiz

I heard bout this grey on the newz who dyed a while ago who waz used in a lab working 4 some woman who waz trying to sell bookz. I think I saw him on Utube and he waz alll messed up looking with naked partz on his body from pulling out his featherz and she kept asking him weird ?z bout shapez and colorz. He even asked a bunch of timez to go back in hiz cage and she ignored him :evil:

 

I thought U guyz would like to know about this poor bird and the horrrible way he waz uzed az a scienze experiment. I forgot the birdz name :(

 

Fly free smart bird.

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Alex and Dr. Irene Pepperburg, as Char stated, was a first in the scientific community to associate high intelligence in the Avian community.

 

Alex lived a very good life and received a ton of love from both the good doctor and her staff.

 

You ight want to pick up a copy of "Alex and Me" for light reading to understand why we all regard her and Alex highly.

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I would like to second the recommendation of "Alex and Me"...Dr. Pepperburg fought (and is still fighting) very long and hard to gain respect and awareness for avian intelligence in the scientific community. As danmcq said she and her staff adored Alex, and it shows in this book. On a personal note, I sincerely believe that "Alex and Me" is a must-read for any African Grey owner.

 

You can also check out http://www.alexfoundation.org/

 

Post edited by: chimaysmommy, at: 2009/04/20 21:33<br><br>Post edited by: chimaysmommy, at: 2009/04/20 21:40

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I would also recommend "Alex and Me" It is an excellent book that shows the astonishing relationship that can develop between two such radically different beings, human and avian. Few parrots have ever had the care and love that Alex received from Ms Pepperberg and her colleagues.

Alex did suffer from a feather condition for a while but it was not because of neglect or ill-treatment.

 

Steve n Misty<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2009/04/21 00:01

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Jamalbirdbiz

 

There is a very common phrase we use here in the US--

*If you have nothing to say, don't say it*

 

Making remarks about someone or something you know nothing about isn't looked upon very well on this and many other boards. As far as You Tube goes, anyone can put anything concerning any subject on there and that doesn't necessarily make it true.

 

Concerning Irene, I've been to 3 seminars of hers in 3 different places. People here have told you to go and read a few things but I'll give you the short story in case reading that material will be difficult for you to comprehend.

 

Irene is a behavioral scientist who's only goal is to study potential intelligence levels of animals. Her specialty is birds.

 

Lets set the record straight about the plucking issue.----she got Alex when he was approx 2 yrs old and at the time he was a chronic plucker in only a few areas of his body. He always remained that way. As many people here will tell you, they also own chronic pluckers and know that the bird will always be a plucker and it has nothing to do with cruelty. In any picture of Alex, there are no bald spots.

 

Besides Irene, there were 8 people associated with her that were there all the time. All of these people including Irene spoiled the bird all the time. He wanted for nothing. His diet was excellent and varied. He was not fond of some fruits nor every single vegetable that was fed to him.

 

The training sessions were 30 minutes long --4 to 5 sessions a day. The reason they were only 30 minutes long was because after 30 minutes, a grey or other parrot loses interest in what's going on. Training sessions were done 5 days a week.

 

Alex was not caged during the day. He slept in an oversized cage during the night. There were other birds present.

 

Alex died at the age of 31 from hardening of the arteries which can't be diagnosed ahead of time. One day he was perfectly fine, the next day he was found dead in the bottom of the cage. A complete necropsy was done. Information concerning his death wasn't released to the public until the results of that necropsy was released.

 

Few people can say that they've had their grey for 31 yrs. That figure is high.

 

Alex was well known on many boards as well as many conservation groups.

 

Today more training is going on with 2 other greys plus a Double Headed Amazon.

 

So to wind this up, get your facts straight before rushing over with some incorrect You Tube information. Check lots of things out. You may actually learn something constructive about creatures that you deal with. That's what the people on this board do in case you're not aware of that.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/20 23:50

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Don't be to hard on jamalbirdbiz. He is clearly enthusiastic and I am sure he means well but he seems to suffer from the impetuosity of youth.

I have come across threads in news groups that jamalbirdbiz may have read and so had jumped to conclusions that were unwarranted. I hope he takes the time to do more thorough research before he comes to voice an opinion.

 

Steve n Misty

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Respectfully, I have to say that I'm with Dave...Prior to getting our Chimay, I did quite a bit of internet surfing on the subject to get myself as oriented as possible with the care of greys, which included the YouTube clip that he is referring to (actually that was found during a browsing session to watch some of the incredibly cute and funny parrots that are out there). After watching it, I found myself very intrigued, and read up on Dr. P and Alex further.

 

In short, please do your research. This is not coming solely from what I have read in this thread but in the forum as a whole. Quick conclusions can be dangerous, especially if that habit is also applied when making decisions on the best care for your greys.

 

Karma to Dave!

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i'm waiting for my copy of alex and me but when i saw the video's i wondered why he was so plucked, but i never thought it was from neglect becuase i knew who both of them were. i should get my copy later this week, i'm pretty excited!

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Can someone post the link of the youtube of Alex?I'm wondering if its a plucking or molting.As what I read of her she loved him alot.She was absolutely crushed of his passing.I saw that on a interview on TV.

Karma for you Dave.

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Somewhere, I once saw a photo of Alex before Harrison's and after. There was a great improvement in his feathering. We have to realize that 30 yrs ago people did not know what they do today about diet for parrots.<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/04/21 16:09

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Alex and me was an amazing book. I read it a few months ago after it was released. Dr. Pepperberg was in Northern VA a few weeks ago speaking to Phoenix Landing about Alex, her research, training methods, etc. I meant to bring my copy for her to sign and was upset to realize halfway down the road that I had left the book at home. I ended up grabbing the last copy of The Alex Studies which she gladly signed.

 

It was a very interesting talk and I feel privileged to have met and spoken with her, as I am sure did the others who came to meet and listen to her talk.

 

Dr. Pepperberg truly loved Alex and the other birds (such as Griffin) and as others here have stated, they are all extremely well taken care of. (I would say more so then many of our birds since many of us have to leave them for many hours during the day while we work whereas Alex WAS Dr. Pepperberg's work and they spent all day together, forming a great bond in the process.

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Marauder

 

Lucky for you that you were able to meet Irene. I went to 3 seminars but never got the chance to meet her. It would have been nice to congratulate her. She put a lot of time in with Alex.

I just wanna say something else concerning the earlier accusation that her bird was mistreated either physically or mentally---No parrot, no matter what species of parrot, can't be taught anything by anyone who does these things to a bird. If there were a number of people working with the bird ( which there was) the parrot has to trust and feel comfortable with that person/persons.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/24 01:58

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Dr Pepperberg's work is so well publicized, that if she was guilty of any form of animal cruelty or neglect, her research would have been shut down a long time ago.

 

Jamal, if you feel the need to get on your soapbox and cause a stir, how about you contact some of the manufacturers of drugs and chemicals, since they DO test these things on animals.

 

And I've been wondering, what's the deal with the wanna be gangster talk? Is that the new cool?

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Dave, I consider myself to be lucky to have met and chatted with her. She was really nice answering questions about Alex, about where she is going with her research now that Alex has passed away (It's hard to believe it's been a year and a half already), some of the progress Griffin has made, etc.

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Marauder and Dave, I am SO jealous of both of you! Lol...I would LOVE to get the chance to meet Dr. P! I check on the Alex Foundation's website from time to time checking the schedule there. Hopefully she'll be within a reasonable driving distance to me in the future.

 

Jamalbirdbiz, since you have not clarified what you meant by "you are wrong for that" I'm going to run with my assumption...I took that to mean that you feel that we are wrong for believing that Alex was NOT an abused and neglected "lab rat." Let me just suggest that you not accuse anyone here of being wrong about something unless you're willing to back that up with a little explanation. We provided plenty of explanation to back up our belief that Alex was LOVED LOVED LOVED by everyone that he worked with. You clearly had no idea who Alex or Dr. Pepperburg were when you started this thread, nor that any of us knew who they were...So to reiterate my earlier point, DO YOUR RESEARCH<br><br>Post edited by: chimaysmommy, at: 2009/04/24 16:02

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