October 2013
Dear Elephants, Birds and Humans,
Jackie, my daughter and I participated in the March for Elephants in NYC, This was a march conducted in 41 cities around the globe in a desperate attempt to bring world wide attention to the illegal and quasi legal ivory trade that is bringing about the extinction of the elephant. China is the main perpetrator of this crime with a few other countries joining suit. Such a crime and tragedy to bring about the extinction of any life form for human greed (especially elephants) and it has happened so many times in the past. Let us hope that this can be stopped before it is too late. Like little Matthew would say, "the world goes on without them", but it will be a good bit emptier and a lot uglier.
On the bright side for us, we have our 22nd Pet Bird Show coming up this weekend at the Liberty Ambulance Building. Hopefully, it will be well attended. If we can spread the message of humane treatment of all pet birds and just letting all wild birds live unmolested then we have accomplished our mission. There has been controversy about selling birds at the show. I hope that we can help people, who want to buy a bird, make educated decisions about what they are doing and not buy impulsively. I truly wish that no birds (except maybe parakeets and cockatiels) were bred for the pet industry and that everyone who wanted a bird would adopt one because so many are bought and then not wanted. We also have parrot mill breeding that is beginning to get to be like puppy mill breeding which adds tremendously to the surplus. But, people will buy what they want and we hope that through what we can teach them about what is involved in pet bird ownership, hopefully the birds that they buy at our show have a better chance at a loving and permanent home. By the way, I got rid of two vendors last year whose birds were not being treated humanely and I doubt very much if they would ever try to come back to us. We are not here to advocate for the pet industry, we are here to advocate only for the well being of the birds.
My birds are doing ok. Aristophanes, my monster scarlet macaw, is still in love with my new puppy and never bites him (only me), Emma, my nape, is well and so is Zeke, my cockatiel.
We have a new vet as our speaker this month, Dr. Scott Quick. He took over Dr. Stein's practice and does a certain amount of avian medicine which he will explain to us. It is very nice to have him. He, along with Dr. Stein and Dr. Jairo, will be checking the birds as they are entered into the show. Dr. Stein has done that every year since the show's inception and that provides for the best chance of making sure only healthy birds are entered into our show. By the way............ENTER YOUR BIRDS!
Next month we have The Eagle Institute coming to talk to us and then in December, we have our holiday party and penny social.
Take care everyone, see you at the show..............and have a great month.
Love,
Richie
Jackie, my daughter and I participated in the March for Elephants in NYC, This was a march conducted in 41 cities around the globe in a desperate attempt to bring world wide attention to the illegal and quasi legal ivory trade that is bringing about the extinction of the elephant. China is the main perpetrator of this crime with a few other countries joining suit. Such a crime and tragedy to bring about the extinction of any life form for human greed (especially elephants) and it has happened so many times in the past. Let us hope that this can be stopped before it is too late. Like little Matthew would say, "the world goes on without them", but it will be a good bit emptier and a lot uglier.
On the bright side for us, we have our 22nd Pet Bird Show coming up this weekend at the Liberty Ambulance Building. Hopefully, it will be well attended. If we can spread the message of humane treatment of all pet birds and just letting all wild birds live unmolested then we have accomplished our mission. There has been controversy about selling birds at the show. I hope that we can help people, who want to buy a bird, make educated decisions about what they are doing and not buy impulsively. I truly wish that no birds (except maybe parakeets and cockatiels) were bred for the pet industry and that everyone who wanted a bird would adopt one because so many are bought and then not wanted. We also have parrot mill breeding that is beginning to get to be like puppy mill breeding which adds tremendously to the surplus. But, people will buy what they want and we hope that through what we can teach them about what is involved in pet bird ownership, hopefully the birds that they buy at our show have a better chance at a loving and permanent home. By the way, I got rid of two vendors last year whose birds were not being treated humanely and I doubt very much if they would ever try to come back to us. We are not here to advocate for the pet industry, we are here to advocate only for the well being of the birds.
My birds are doing ok. Aristophanes, my monster scarlet macaw, is still in love with my new puppy and never bites him (only me), Emma, my nape, is well and so is Zeke, my cockatiel.
We have a new vet as our speaker this month, Dr. Scott Quick. He took over Dr. Stein's practice and does a certain amount of avian medicine which he will explain to us. It is very nice to have him. He, along with Dr. Stein and Dr. Jairo, will be checking the birds as they are entered into the show. Dr. Stein has done that every year since the show's inception and that provides for the best chance of making sure only healthy birds are entered into our show. By the way............ENTER YOUR BIRDS!
Next month we have The Eagle Institute coming to talk to us and then in December, we have our holiday party and penny social.
Take care everyone, see you at the show..............and have a great month.
Love,
Richie