smuggling pigeons in pants!

[maine123]

I read a thread on here like a month ago about smuggling pigeons. Here is an article about a guy who was caught.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-trousers.html

[loftys homers]

Thats A Cracker I Was Reading An Article A Couple Of Months Ago About A Guy From Newzeland Who Regularly Smuggled Birds From Australia Home And After Being Caught 3 Or 4 Times He Started Just With The Eggs. This Guy Raced Pigeons And Because Of Ausralias Quarentine Laws He Couldnt Purchase Good Stock. The Article Stated That It Was A Vrty Common Problem It Also Said The Ozzses "rules" Where Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pegasus]

I honestly think that guy just want to have his 15 minutes of FAME...He can't do it by singing in American Idol, so he have to do it in the airport...His judges will be the costum agents and he is heading to the big house not to Hollywood ...

[maine123]

lol...if that is the reasons, he is an idiot.

That is true about american Idol though.

[dove_bird]

what a nutcase shoving pigeons down his pants!!

[george simon]

Heck thats old news we had a thread on that last FEB or MARCH. ..GEORGE

[Pigeon lower]

Ye at a auction i go to its there on the wall a article about it.

[Columba livia!]

WOW CRAZY! what a nut! do yall ever hear what his reason was?

[Becca199212]

If I remember rightly, the pigeon 'had to be euthanized'?

[jameswaller]

oh,the humanity and humility/.anything to get around laws///did a bird dog point him out,,rrr...what do custom agents do with the evidence??..sincerely james waller

[maryjane]

I wish this was just a one-time thing and this guy was looking for publicity. But right now I'm reading this awesome (factual) book (Of Parrots and People by Mira Tweti) about parrot and other bird trade in and out of the US and other countries, and this is only one of the hundreds of ways people smuggle birds across borders every single day (millions of them). I was going to write about this book and strongly urge you guys to read it, it's maybe the most interesting book I've ever read, even though parts of it are sad and horrifying, many parts are amazing and wonderful.

***Following are some more facts I have learned that may upset some of you, nothing graphic, just pretty sad and unbelievable, but I didn't know any of this and I know as bird people some of you may want to know what is going on behind the scenes of pet parrots:

It says they also smuggle them taped to human legs inside toilet paper rolls (finches and 'keets and other small birds), put in empty "stash" cans of shaving cream, in armrests, hubcaps, dashboards, inside seats, and even (empty) gas tanks with an alternate fuel source being used.

For every bird (including parrots and pigeons) smuggled successfully across a border, several die in the process of being caught and transported, usually with no food, water, or air source for days and nights. They only catch 1-2% of all smugglers, and that is often (self-admittedly) on the smuggler's seventy or eightieth trip across the border. The birds that are taken into custody are either kept for years in a quarantine tank in isolation as they await the trial, or are euthanized, or in some places are quarantined/rehabbed and then either (very rarely) re-released into the wild or, in most cases, auctioned off to the highest bidder with no regards to whom the birds are being sold to.

In many countries trapping and/or smuggling of parrots in the wild is a family legacy passed down from generation to generation and is considered an admirable trade.

There are no border organizations that avidly search out bird smugglers, other than trying to notice if people look strange or uncomfortable. You can cross the border into literally almost any other country and within twenty minutes (in one place the following happened regularly) illegally purchase a parrot, and be taught how to inject it with anesthetic or liquor it up, tuck it in a paper bag, roll it up, and hide in your luggage to bring to the States.

In the history of bird smuggling, there has only been one dog trained and used to sniff out smuggled birds and reptiles, and he did an excellent job and caught many smugglers during his job. Unfortunately his trainer could only work with him a few times a week to sniff out smugglers, and caused the project to be dismissed because the dog wasn't considered productive enough in the long run.

There are also no regulations for breeders of parrots.

One large-scale rescuer, Lori Rutledge, who has several 40x20x20' aviaries with a different species of parrot in each one, mostly former wild (captured) birds and breeders, says, "Wouldn't it be ideal if people with land and a mild climate put up one colony dedicated to rescue birds, filled it with one species, and just let them enjoy the rest of their lives?"

**********************
I have a Princess of Wales parrot whom I adopted when her first parents could no longer keep her (they had a baby). She was taken unweaned from her parents (apparently this is illegal now but either wasn't then or was done illegally) and hand raised by a human. She thinks she is human. She lives with a cockatiel but needs and wants to be with people at all times. She does not identify with the other birds at all, and I've always thought that was sad and unfair. It is different than with our pigeons. In the wild, parrots raise the babies for months together and then they join the flock and for years learn the ways while everyone watches out for each other. But instead, Hana was taken when hatched from her parents and raised by a hand. She actually identifies most with hands or faces. She thinks a hand and a face are separate beings. Anyway, my point is it just goes to show from a personal example how cruel it is what is done to these birds, and really nothing at all is being done to stop it. But some of the examples and the people in the book are truly amazing, and there are as always some really great people out there on the side of the birds.

[Niloc5]

And I thought Id seen it all.....