#psittacines

If you've been following me for a while, you'll know I'm a sucker for stories about species reintroductions, rediscoveries, etc. And this one might be my favorite this year.

The kākāpō is this delightfully odd bird--a nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot. Because New Zealand historically didn't have any predators apart from birds of prey, their camouflage was generally sufficient to protect them in the forest. Unfortunately, Europeans brought with them weasels, rats, and free-roaming cats, all of which hunted the kākāpō to the brink of extinction. Invasive species of deer additionally competed with the kākāpō for food.

By the 1980s, the birds had all but disappeared from the main island, and the world population bottomed out at 51 birds in 1995. Since then, breeding efforts and conservation on smaller, predator-free islands have brought the population back up to 252, but this is still a critically endangered species.

The reintroduction to the main island involved setting aside 3400 acres in which all mammalian predators had been eliminated. That would allow the kākāpō a safe place to breed and recover. Right now the four birds released into this sanctuary are all male, to allow conservationists a chance to observe them in this habitat. With time, though, we'll hopefully see females added as well, so that the population can begin expanding.

april fools! made you look at Samantha, my aunt's parrot!!

It’s particularly difficult in the world of veterinary medicine and animal care because many of our colleagues do keep birds like this as pets and genuinely move heaven and earth to give them as good a home as is humanly possible. But even while acknowledging that fact it can be hard to find a way to express my opinion that psittacines don’t make good pets, without seeming judgmental.

Parrots are fascinating, intelligent, beautiful, and charismatic animals, so it is easy to see why they appeal to the public as companion animals. Unfortunately, an average household environment deprives parrots of things that are absolutely essential to their physical and psychological wellbeing, and many people go into ownership under-informed. Parrots are delicate animals with demanding husbandry, long lifespans, complex social needs, and require a great deal of specialized care.

As a result, many parrots prove overwhelming for their owners, especially if the owner was poorly educated on what they were signing up for, and in the US, a staggering 80-85% of parrots are rehomed in their first five years of ownership. Many parrots will shuffled between multiple homes over the course of their lifespan, becoming increasingly psychologically damaged with each rehoming, and wind up in overburdened sanctuaries when they become difficult to manage. And far too many simply die from improper husbandry along the way.

ACS has rescued a placed a large number of parrots over the years, and we still have numerous sanctuary animals that will spend the remainder of their years here (like Cypress, pictured above). Five years ago, we overhauled our facilities for permanent resident birds by converting to an aviaries-only set up, allowing them to fly, flock with other birds, and to afford them more space for enrichment. We are no longer actively rescuing parrots, but the birds who are with us currently will be here for many years to come.

Even providing a high standard of care, our birds are inarguably not living the life they ought to as wild animals. We have had the privilege of viewing wild native parrots in Aruba, as well as introduced populations in multiple states (the conures pictured above were seen by us in Florida). Seeing them in full flight with flocks of their own kind, foraging, building nests, forming pair bonds, and most importantly being allowed to simply be parrots to their fullest extent, without conforming to the demands of cohabitating with humans, has only firmed our belief that these animals do not belong in the pet trade.

Family Reunion (C-1)

Some families are more popular than others, you know? It's a miracle there wasn't a submission for ever single corvid that's ever existed. Instead, we have these guys.

Theater Thursday: Program Advertising

Here is another salute to Performing Arts Month here in Milwaukee.

This program from the 1920s was for a Sunday afternoon concert featuring pianist Walter Gieseking. Just like theater programs today this one is 99% advertisements. There is an ad for the Wisconsin College of Music which was founded in 1899 and still exists today as the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. There are “Broadway Attractions!” like the Oldenburg Fur Shop and J.R. Williams Co. sellers of distinctive furniture. On the back of the program is an advertisement for Seidel Bros. where one would go for “Intelligent Knowledge of Radio”  and to purchase a Brunswick Panatrope and Radiola.

This and many other programs and posters can be found in the Pabst Theater Collection (UWM Mss 260)