excellent thread on belize forums on care of parrots

http://www.belizeforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=000134

here's the gist of it. i did not write this its rigrat at belizeforums

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Well, I am a little bit fed up.
In the last two weeks we have had two severe cases of parrot injury due to people clipping the wings of a parrot. One has broken ribs and a cracked beak, and the other has had her beak broken off entirely. People who don't know what they are doing think it is OK to just hack away at a birds wings until the bird, (who could fly ten minutes before) just plummets to the ground when they try to fly.
I am not going to get into a debate about wing clippimg because I personally will never do it and think it is totally unnecessary.
But we now have one parrot that will take a year to recover and another that will have to be fed by syringe for up to seventy years.
On top of this the parrot with the ribs doesn't know what parrot food is, and has been used to a diet of corned beef, tortilla chips, and rice.
The ignorance in this country about parrots is stunning.
If you really really must clip your parrot's wings take it to someone who knows what they are doing.

We are battling with the Forestry department at the moment to get a Sanctuary licence, but it is hard going. We don't actually keep parrots per se. they all fly around the house or roost in the trees outside the front door until their wings get better. As they start to fly we give them 'orientation trips' so they can get back home. But are often up to our ears in bush retrieving ones that can fly downhill but not uphill!
We are also building a large aviary (enormous... a small valley) so that parrots too badly damaged to ever be paired up with a wild bird can live some sort of a normal life.
At the moment we have 13 birds, 9 free flying and coming home to roost (six of these paired with wild birds) and four others who are rescue birds.
We don't do Macaws as we don't have any wild populations nearby so our reasons for doing this don't apply.

Rant over

I read that too.....how disgusting. Sad isn't it?
That poor parrot with no beak!!!
grrrrr....

Marty,

thats so sad, I've always wanted a parrot but didn't think I had the time to devote and train and take care of them. I'm a a former dog obeidiance trainer as well as a short stint in conformation showing. I still have them all, we had 9 when we stopped showing, and took care of them and watched as they aged and passed on. As we travel and we see people that have parrots, makes me want to get one. But I see that all pets are a large responsiblity, and like in any area, even in our own health care one must be carefull.

Who was that guy? I can respect anyone that loves and cares for parrots but that guy is downright rude and mean.
Are you really supposed to have a license to have parrots in Belize? It breaks my heart when I see so many parrots here sitting in tiny cages not big enough to open their wings without fresh water or food. Makes my blood boil.

Marty, Did you zap that post reply a little while ago? What was up with his rant?

Marty, I was just wondering if you got your wedding ring back from your bird? I just remembered your story from awhile back.

nope Deacon. he ate it. never got it back. Glenn at Rendevous thoughtfully provided me with another.

DB, that was amos, the message board terrorist. i zapped his post. he'll appear now and then. check this link for a lil more

http://www.belizeforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=000134

Whoa!!

yeah tenacious insanity. he sure has polluted the belize forums. they don't edit out his drivel like we do. half the time he's having arguments with himself under different names. and a lot of the posts get sidetracked commenting on his nutty writings.

he told me once he wants to reduce Belize tourism by 10%, he thought that was enough to kill it. so he goes on the boards and writes hideous negative stuff. he got burned on some land deal in sittee i hear. this is his form of retaliation. he writes me stuff at me email at home too, i never see it anymore tho cause my spam filter trashes it before i get it.

sorry amos. i know you want me to read that crap. but its like only about 5 things over and over for years. really repetitive. totally boring and unimaginative from my end.

Hic! Where da bird be at now matey? Fergit da ramblins of a fake frenchie...HIC....