The Role of the Humane Officer in Bird Rescue How to Change It by Bob Kaegi

18 May 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Role of the Humane Officer in Bird Rescue

How to Change It

In the past few months Humane Officers played two different roles in cases in Ohio. I’ll not mention names, but in one case, one refused to do anything, and even returned the owner his birds when in fact they were still being held on his property, not even confiscated. She even stated that she could do nothing, her hands were tied. Birds this man had bred for years, were allowed to suffer, and die, with no vet care, very little of food, and water, he allowed them to live in the worst conditions imaginable. It had once been a mobile home, and the birds were just let go in the home to take over, and they chewed the paneling off, crawled in the holes they made and could not get out and died. Some birds attacked one another, and killed one another. Furthermore, some got their leg bands caught on cages, and were left there to eventually die. The humane officer even did away with evidence of dead, decapitated and even mummified birds were strewn about like trash. This case is so horrible that writing it is making me ill to this day. I like many have seen the images posted on facebook from here to Timbuktu. It went viral. This case of abuse was never prosecuted. The abuser, owner, in his own words “a money hungry bird breeder” never was charged with a crime. The bird club, who was asked to come in, was blamed for stealing birds, even though the owner signed a release form. The club was taken in front of a Grand Jury Hearing, to see if they themselves could be charged and thankfully no indictment was handed down against them. But the case continues in the way of lawsuits. The case is about who owns the birds, the Vet who received the birds by the club via a transfer. Or the owner who let them suffer and die in the name of a dollar. The vet spent an enormous amount of money to get these birds to somewhat normal, but they will need ongoing care for the rest of their lives.

The other case is that of a Rescue / Sanctuary a 501c3 on-profit organization that has been around for years doling out the minimum care standards, such as food water, touting they were always broke, and the woman who runs it, and her board of directors who allowed conditions to get worse, and worse over time. The birds endured filthy conditions such as mice, crawling in the cages of the birds, keeping containers of food uncovered, and mice and roaches climbing all over the food. This was a commercial building, where birds were in the front window, and the sun beating down on them in the summer heat. They touted needing volunteers to help, feed, and clean, but if anyone dare make a suggestion, or questioned them in the least, they were fired (now remember these were volunteers). As if you can fire a volunteer. I personally knew of two such volunteers. I have received calls on an average of once a month asking what we can do about getting this rescue closed. Every time my statement was the same. “Call the County Humane Officer”. I’m a citizen like them, I have no authority, and I’d call and say I’d be willing to help them with my experience as a bird owner, and director, or assistant director of several rescues over the years. But if a Humane Officer blows you off or won’t do anything, what can you do? Well they got a new humane officer in town, finally one who cared, one who took her job seriously, and when offers came in from “Bird People” she listened. She made a case; she contacted the people who could assist. She brought in other departments, Attorneys, Health Department, HSUS, and a team of some of the best aviculturists around, and did the impossible. This Humane Officer is the HERO, and I never use the term lightly. Although at this time the case is still open, I find the timing perfect for this article as well.

I am not a professional writer; I am just a “crazy bird person” who is jotting his thoughts on the ideal humane officer, what I believe the standards should be and what we in the community of bird people should do to assist them. Every state has their own laws in regards to animal care. But let’s face it folks food, and water, does not a good home make. We in the bird world know it is SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT…  Birds, or any animal need enrichment, in the way of toys, humane contact, good size housing, a clean environment, and last but not least good health care. I know there are those among us who do not do that, but really? That’s another article.

We need Humane Officers who will listen, we need Humane Officers who will go the extra mile and encourage the, (and I hate the term “Professionals” who live, and care for these creatures everyday) to get involved, not from the enforcement end but to help them understand what is, and what is not good animal care. No matter what the creature is they deserve the minimum standards.  Food and water is not the minimum.

We can do this people, we can make a difference. We can volunteer to assist, we can educate them as we do anybody who gets a bird and wants to learn what to do. We as rescues are constantly educating, sharing our knowledge, just as those did for us. We did not become great bird owners by osmosis, or by reading a book, or even reading on opinion from one person. Humane Officers are people too. They make mistakes, and let’s face facts; there is no magic phonebook for rescues and sanctuaries being published. (Light bulb clicks next great idea). Some are afraid to approach these people the Humane Officer. I have never had one bite me yet, like the birds I care for.

In the state of Ohio all it takes is a minimum of 20 hours training to become an H.O. I do not believe this is enough; I think we need continuing education classes for them. Officers of the Law, Firefighters, EMS Workers, Doctors, etc, constantly train, retrain, and recertify to do their jobs. So what do we do about it? How do we change it? Where do we go from here? Do you have a working relationship with your HO’s? If you do share with the other groups how you approached them.  This is the age of the internet. There are Bird groups all over Facebook, Twitter, and Forums. This is not hard anymore we can do this, instead of bad mouthing, each other. Work together, let’s change laws. Let’s get professional in our attitudes, in the way we present ourselves to these HO’s. Maybe, then maybe they will listen. Maybe they will take us seriously if we don’t act like the little snitch on the playground.

My very first group in the 80’s was “We’ll go out on a limb for your bird”.

My Mottos is “It’s not about what I do today that matters, It’s what I leave behind for the future that does.

Bob Kaegi

“I Never Believed I Would Have Seen This In My Lifetime” by Bob Kaegi

17 May 2012 4 Comments

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

“I Never Believed I Would Have Seen This In My Lifetime”

A View Of The Bird World Today

We have all heard the phrase “I would have never believed I would have seen this in my lifetime”, well here we go again. My Grandfather and I watched Apollo 11 land, and the first man walk on the moon. It was the first time I remember hearing that statement from him or anyone. “I never believed I would have seen this in my lifetime”. Over and over we have seen things we never thought we’d have seen in our lifetime, some good, some not so good.  We are at a pinnacle in the bird world for someone who’s in his 50’s who could have never dreamed the horror I would witness, especially in my lifetime. For my grandfather it was the passing of the last Passenger Pigeon. For me it is the horror of birds taken out of a rescue because conditions were so bad.

It’s been almost 30 years that I first got Bird Bit in the literal term, and fell head over heels, and felt bad for a little Orange Wing Amazon that I knew absolutely nothing about.  His cage was disgusting, filled with feces, and was caged all the time. Now let me back up just a bit. This little bird was in a friend’s pet shop, and I was working there part time to be able offset the cost of my hobby of tropical fish tanks and the breeding of Tropical Fish. I would go into the office, eat my lunch, which was where the bird was located. This little guy would beg for a potato chip, or a cracker, whatever I had.  I was told by the owner of the shop, don’t let him out, and don’t mess with him he’s a biter. So all of those of you who really know me, know that if you tell me not to do something, well you know. After about a week of getting to know him and developing a relationship, I got caught by the owner, eating my lunch, with the little guy sitting on my shoulder, sharing my sandwich. He came in saw this and started laughing, and asked me how I was going to get him back in the cage, I responded “easy”, I put a cracker in his food bowl, off he went into the cage. It was at that point I asked Jack why he wasn’t being sold. He said the owner had to make a choice between the bird, and the boyfriend (Yeah I know what you all are thinking). He was in on consignment, he was very mean and lunged at everybody, and he was perplexed on how to sell a mean attacking bird. So I asked for how much, he said $600.00 which half would be his. He told me give me $300.00 he’s yours. Well I walked out the door at the end of the evening with Bird, cage, and supplies in tow. Again I knew nothing, I called a friend who was my K-9 vet and asked about a bird vet, he gave me a name, and I made an appointment the next day. I went to him, took the bird in, had him checked out, and asked about proper feeding, care, and etc. Next thing I know I no longer am working part-time in the pet store, but working in the vet clinic, learning everything I can about these magnificent creatures. Let me also tell you I had volunteered at the zoo, and the local raptor rehab group. I had grown up with a grandfather who was a wildlife rehabber, before the term was in the dictionary I believe. One by one the aquariums were sold, and the bird had taken over my life, I built him a huge play stand, and playground. Within the next few weeks I had taken in what was believed to be a 50-year-old Blue fronted Amazon.  And so it began, I had started on my way to becoming a crazy bird person.

My story isn’t much different from many others, except I had started a Bird Recovery Rescue Team. Any escaped pet bird that would fly off, we went after. After being with a fire department, and using a lot of the skills I learned between that, and the military putting a team together to do recovery.  As a team we were very good, a 98% recovery rate was nothing to sneeze at. Well who would have thought in the mid 80’s early 90’s that we would be rescuing birds. Remember we were a “Recovery Group”. Some of the birds we were doing a recovery on were reported not by those who owned them, but by those who spotted them. So those we got, and couldn’t find the owners we adopted out. This back then was not hard to do. Again most of them were wild caught. But we still had no problem adopting them out, and we were doing it the right way, we were checking out the home, educating adoptive families, and being there after the fact. This was not the plan for the group, but it went that way without us realizing it.

CITIES kicked in, now imports dropped to nil, and captive breeding was on the real upswing making it easier to get handfed babies. We did not hear too often of breeders who ran mills with minimum care to their breeder pairs, and I knew of many back in the day “Good Breeders”. Now remember this is before the real “Al Gore Internet invention”. (Pardon me for the jab). The Bird Community then was small, but many.  Even then news in the bird world traveled fast. Bird Talk, American Cage Bird Magazine covered the avian news pretty well. Then we did not fathom the need for a lot of Rescue Groups, and certainly none that would be considered to be full to the point they had to say “no”. I would have again never dreamed that one day I would have to worry about the “after I’m gone scenario” for my birds.

Well here we are 2012, on a weekly basis our backyards are being inundated with raids on this rescue, or that sanctuary. Bird Mills being raided. Just in the past year here in Ohio, we’ve had the infamous Doug Ratcliff Troy Ohio Bird case which is still ongoing being played out through the court system. And now less than a week ago the Wings Over The Rainbow a so-called rescue less than a county away from Troy Ohio.

What in all of this in the community can we learn? How do we police ourselves? What does it take to not seem so nosey to our neighbors? (Meaning other rescues). Without some kind of government interference. State regulation is not really an answer. There are some certified rescues and sanctuaries that exist, however most of them no sooner than they open are bursting at the seams.

What is the answer to all these questions? I don’t know, nor did it ever seem possible in my lifetime that it ever would have come to this. I do know that if we as “The Bird Community” don’t start making changes to what we have created, and we all know man does create his own monsters, sometimes with good intentions, but that only goes so far. We will be doomed to not only put these creatures into not only extinction in the wild, but in captivity as well. Now wouldn’t that be a shame?

We need to start helping one another, we need to police each other, and first and foremost we need to network with one another in an egoless “I’m better than you” effort. Sometimes that’s difficult to do, but if we don’t we will not have anything left to rescue.

Why am I writing this? I will tell you someday I will not be here. My Birds are the one thing I live for. I worry about their future, just as much as any parent worries about the future of their children. I want to know that when I leave this earth, I will leave them in the best possible hands without the fear that they will be treated badly, left to starve, left unloved, left to live in the prison of a cage without the human contact that I gave them. I know as we all do, for those of us who really love our birds we are the only ones that will care for them the way we do.

But then again I hope that I am wrong there as well. So let us all change the effect of the statement In my lifetime, to a positive goal for not only us, but for the future of the birds we hold so dear to our hearts. For it’s their lifetime we must concern ourselves about. We are here for such a short time, but we still have the ability to change things for the better, forever.

Bob Kaegi

Carrot Quinoa by Michelle Elle

25 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , , , ,

 

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly in a fine strainer before cooking. Cook one cup of quinoa into two cups of organic carrot juice, simmer until carrot juice is all soaked in. Add some toppings like sweet peppers, fresh cilantro, sesame, chia and flax seed.

 

You can view more of Michelle’s recipes at The Parrot Pantry

Chop with Sprouts by Michelle Elle

25 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

This batch had a little bit of everything in it, I normally don’t add quite so much stuff but often do a mix of veggies, leafy greens, grains and sprouts.
This one is raw and finely chopped broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, squash, carrots with tops, celery with tops, ginger roots, sweet peppers, arugula leaves, kale, spinach leaves, mustard greens. I don’t often feed fruit to the birds but in this batch I did add small bits of apple, pear, strawberry, orange and mango.
The sprouts added are sesame seed, black, white and red quinoa, garbanzo beans, mustard seed, fenugreek, wheat berries, corn, lentils, adzuki beans, and mung beans.

You can view more of Michelle’s recipes at The Parrot Pantry

Sprout Salad by Michelle Elle

25 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , ,

Sprouted quinoa, garbanzo beans, wheat berries, buckwheat groats, lentils, brown rice, and mung beans with finely chopped broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, carrots with tops, ginger root, sweet peppers, kale, mustard greens, cilantro and parsley. Topped with chia and sesame seeds.

You can view more of Michelle’s recipes at The Parrot Pantry

E. coli bacteria easily killed with spices like garlic, clove, cinnamon, oregano and sage

25 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , , ,

 

A recent outbreak of a virulent strain of E. coli has killed 19 people in Europe and infected more than 2,000 in at least 12 countries.  The source of the outbreak hasn’t been pinpointed but the World Health Organization and the CDC are focusing on fresh naturally grown foods like tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers which were packaged in Germany.

Entire suspect crops are ordered destroyed by the WHO and the CDC every year when an E. coli outbreak is declared.  Why does the WHO and the CDC order crops destroyed?  In recent years there appears to be a concerted effort by the WHO and the CDC to target only the foods that are essential for a healthy diet and life for millions of people.  Foods which helps prevent disease, illnesses and viral infections.

Every year the WHO and the CDC issues E. coli outbreak bulletins and they always accuse anti-cancer, anti heart disease and anti-microbial foods like lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, spinach, peas and beans.  No E. coli alert have been made against processed foods that make up the entire menu at fast food outlets.  Fast processed foods are linked to heart disease, cancer, obesity, viral infections and a host of other ailments and illnesses.  The intent of the WHO and the CDC is to destroy only the healthy natural food groups.  Yes the death of 19 people is a good argument in favor of destroying a crop linked to an E. coli outbreak but the destruction of the entire crops affects millions.  Without these healthy food crops thousands, even millions  will become inflicted with disease, illnesses and viral infections and die.

Did you know that E. coli illnesses and deaths can be eliminated entirely with spices?  Spices like cinnamon has a long history both as a spice and as a medicine. Cinnamon’s essential oils is an “anti-microbial” food, and the spice has been studied for its ability to help stop the growth of bacteria as well as fungi. Cinnamon’s antimicrobial properties are so effective that research demonstrates this spice can be used as an alternative to traditional food preservatives.

Researchers at Kansas State University have found that spices is effective in eliminating E. coli bacteria.  An outbreak of E. coli in 1996 was allegedly traced to unpasteurized apple juice that killed one child and sickened many others.  After that E. coli outbreak the US government ordered all apple juice and other fruit juices to be pasteurized – henceforth killing all nutritional benefits of the natural fruit juices.  Another E. coli outbreak years before destroyed all nutritional benefits of another essential food – milk.  Pasteurization of milk destroys it life giving and anti-disease nutrients – including natural Vitamin D and essential natural probiotic bacteria.  Any trace of E. coli in milk is eliminated naturally with raw unpasteurized milk’s probiotic bacteria.

Daniel Y.C. Fung, a Kansas State food microbiologist, and Erdogan Ceylan, a research assistant, studied the antagonistic effect different doses of cinnamon alone and in combination with preservatives would have on E. coli bacteria in apple juice. Ceylan added 1 million E. coli bacteria cells to one milliliter of pasteurized apple juice. The number of bacteria cells added to the juice was higher than the amount of bacteria cells that would be found in consumer food products and was done for experimental purposes only. After adding approximately 0.3 percent of cinnamon – roughly over one teaspoon of the spice to a 64-ounce bottle – about 99 percent of the E. coli was killed.  Fung’s research found that several spices, including garlic, clove, cinnamon, oregano and sage killed 99 percent of E. coli bacteria.

There is absolutely no need to  pasteurize, destroy or add harmful chemicals to our natural food supply when preparing and cooking our food with natural spices like garlic, clove, cinnamon, oregano and sage kills E. coli bacteria.  More people will die as a result of pasteurization, crop destruction and adding harmful chemicals than from any E.coli outbreak.

 

original article Press

Jealous of the Angels by Jenn Bostic

28 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags:

This is one of the most lovely songs I have ever heard. To me it truly fits how we all feel about our Feathered Angels when they pass.

So I dedicate this song to all of you who have lost an Angel and until we can meet with them again….

Forever Loved

27 Mar 2012 2 Comments

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , ,

Dedicated to Megan Lewis and Bill Lewis, they shared a perfect Forever Love.

Birdie Treats by Michelle Elle

25 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , , ,

Just kind of threw together what I had on hand today. Started with half a cup ground flax seed, half a cup wheat germ and half a cup of whole wheat flour. Then tossed in generous amounts of harrisons pellets, chia seeds, sesame seed, millet, chili pepper flakes and cinnamon. One egg and one third cup of milk, half a cup carrot juice and dash of baking soda and powder and a spoonful of coconut oil. Kept adding a splash of carrot juice if it got too dry. I think that was everything …oh and shredded carrots.

If you have any questions, I am sure she would love to help you though.

Here is her FB page Michelle Elle

Here is a link to her Recipe Section in my Blog Michelle Elle Birdie Recipes

Birdie Recipes by Michelle Elle

25 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment

by Deborah in Front Page Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I know we are all looking for new and healthy recipes for our Feathered ones. Michelle has agreed to allow me to share her recipes here in my blog. She comes up with some amazing dishes, that are both pleasing to look at, and healthy. I have tried many of them, and My Crew just loves them! Now she doesnt always have exact written recipes, she is amazing at throwing things together and coming up with some fantastic recipes. If you have any questions, I am sure she would love to help you though.

Here is her FB page Michelle Elle

Here is a link to her Recipe Section in my Blog Michelle Elle Birdie Recipes

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