Squawk Box, Summer 2009

SUMMER 2009

Top Five Dangers Inside the Bird Cage

By Rebecca K. O’Connor

mostly, my advice is to just use good judgment, common sense and supervision. Your parrot will be fine.

Ed’s note: Last issue, we focussed on hazards to companion birds in the outdoors. This time, we’ll take a look at some indoor dangers.

Freelance writer and author Rebecca K. O’Connor wrote the following piece on her blog, http://heckledbyparrots.com/blog/ and graciously allowed us to reprint it here.

This is always my least favourite discussion when it comes to new parrots, mostly because I think we get carried away. People slip and hit their heads, killing themselves in bathtubs and on stairs, but we all still have bathtubs and most of us still use stairs. Accidents happen and being overly paranoid doesn’t always stop them from happening. Here are a few really common things to look out for, but

In This Issue 

Spring Garage Sale a squawking success, Pg. 2

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Book review: Of Parrots and People, Pg. 3

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Potluck pictures, Pg. 3

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Blooms for birdies, Pg. 4

www.greyhaven.bc.ca

1. Zinc poisoning Zinc is poisonous to parrots and can be ingested through metals that have been galvanized. The level of toxicity can cause feather plucking, gastric distress or even death, depending on how much zinc gets in the bird’s system. Read more about it at http:// www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/zinc.html .

2. Frayed rope toys Easy for a parrot to get a toy caught and many a bird has lost a toe this way. It’s even possible for a parrot to get her neck wrapped in strings. Keep an eye on all materials that have the potential of fraying and leaving dangerous strings.

3. Choking Watch out for anything small enough to swal-

Frayed rope toys: one of many indoor hazards low or to break down into pieces that can be swallowed and obstruct the throat. Some parrots will destroy things regularly without

Greyhaven volunteers help out at SPCA summer camps again Summer is upon us, and once again that means Greyhaven volunteers (both human and avian!) are out spreading the word about the organization to youngsters at the annual SPCA summer camps for kids in Vancouver, Surrey and West Vancouver.

The 45-minute presentations focus on good bird care. The groups of children range between the ages of 9 and 15.

The camps continue throughout July and into August.

Lucy, Pedro the cockatoo, Mr. Bubbles and Robin Fiorese go ‘camping.’

Page 2

Summer 2009

Are you a member of Greyhaven?

If not, why not consider it? You would be supporting a wonderful cause and a copy of this newsletter would be mailed to you quarterly.

Family Membership:

$40.00/yr

Active Volunteer:

$15.00/yr

Individual:

$24.00/yr

Senior (60+):

$20.00/yr

Junior (15 & under):

$20.00/yr

Major Contributor: Platinum:

$500.00/yr +

Gold:

$300.00/yr +

Silver:

$100.00 yr +

New Members New members March 1 – June 29 Monica Baxter Rhiannon Collett Ali Daeizadeh Moez Esmaili Tony and Denise Harvey Carrie Henderson Tanya and Geoff Hughes Mark Nash Yelena Pelentsov Nathan and Sophena Shandler Krista and Sergio Tassone Alex Whittaker Crystal Wong Elsie Don Mark Gallant Dagmar Greger Sherman Cheuk Man Lee Virginia Robinson Helen Samsonow Liwei Zhang

Thanks for joining!

www.greyhaven.bc.ca

Poison is where you least expect it Continued from Page 1 swallowing the bits, but others are a danger to themselves. Keep an eye on your parrot with new toys.

4. Toxic fumes (from air fresheners, scented candles, Teflon, etc.)

Lots of things we put in the air are bad for us. And many of stories of dangers are overblown. However, as a rule of thumb, if it smells strongly to you, don’t put it or use it near your bird’s cage (with the exception of over-heated Teflon which doesn’t smell, but rapidly kills birds). And if it seems dangerous to your bird …well, there’s a reason why they used canaries in a coal mine. Maybe you shouldn’t have it in your house in the first place.

5. Poisoning (feeding poisonous or moldy foods) Feed fresh food from dependable sources that don’t use pesticides. Be especially careful with fruits that bugs find really tasty,

Are the quick links you use safe? like strawberries, raspberries, etc. Buy organic.

Rebecca K. O’Connor is a fundraiser for Ducks Unlimited as well as a freelancer writer and author, whose books include A Parrot for Life and Finches (from the Animal Planet Care Library). You can read more about her at http://www.rebeccakoconnor.com

Spring garage sale a smashing success Greyhaven’s 2009 garage sale was blessed with beautiful sunny weather, and plenty of willing volunteers, members, friends, family and work colleagues. World-renowned artist Valerie Pfeiffer attended with her beautiful prints, bookmarks, and cards. She made a very generous donation of $460 (100 per cent of her sales) which helped bring the grand total for the day to a whopping $2,042.75, after expenses.

Happy customers, happy volunteers

Our heartfelt thanks go out to Tracy Flavelle and Kris Obertas who worked tirelessly in coordinating the garage sale.

Additional thanks go out to Shawn, Laurie, Charity and Julie of Apex Storage for supplying the locker to house our small mountain of great donations and allowing donators to

drop their goods off when a Greyhaven representative could not be there.

Also, kudos to CG Industries and Custom Gaskets for allowing us to use their parking lot for our sale and most importantly, Valerie Pfeiffer for her most generous donation of 100% of her sales to Greyhaven.

Summer 2009

Page 3

Book review: Of Parrots and People

Tweti book a must-read for parrot lovers If you want to try to understand the dilemmas we create by having parrots in our homes as companion animals, and you can read only one book on the topic, the book to read would be Mira Tweti’s Of Parrots and People: The Sometimes Funny, Always Fascinating and Often Catastrophic Collision of Two Intelligent Species.

Seasoned journalist Mira Tweti (yes, that’s her real name!) pulls no punches when she writes about the pet parrot industry.

She paints a very dark picture of what goes on in many breeding facilities in the U.S. She also takes aim at the horrors and hypocrisies of the wild parrot trade (yes, it still goes on, even though it’s illegal in the U.S., Canada and the E.U.) She also delves into how these circumstances impact the conservation of the various parrot species, and what is being done to try to conserve parrots in the wild.

The book does not focus entirely on nothing but gloom and doom. There are many stories within the book that tell of heart-

warming efforts by people who care, stories that inspire.

However, given the graphic descriptions of some of the atrocities she details, this is not a book for the faint of heart.

As an entire body of work, the book has definite value and should be in the resource library of any bird conservationist, parrot rescue group or individual parrot lover.

- Review by John Geary John Geary, editor of Squawkbox, is a fullGifts galore at the volunteer appreciation potluck time professional freelance writer and photographer as well as a PIJAC certified avian specialist. Owned by African greys Nikki and Coco and DYH Amazon Einstein, he’s been volun- There is nothing quite so it’s to chew something inediteering with Greyhaven since 2004. content as a well-fed pet ble!)

Parrots and Potluck

Special Thanks

Give us a call!

www.greyhaven.bc.ca

Bree Stoddart DeVry Greenhouses Ltd. Feathered Addictions Helping Hands of WorkSafeBC Husky/Mohawk Community Rebate Program Northwest Wildlife Preservation Society Tracy Flavelle and Kris Obertas (garage sale) United Way Donor Directed Gift Campaign Verna Martin (DeVry Spring Plant Sale) MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS Gold Contributors Cherie Rawlins Dan & Sigrid Lindstrom Silver Contributors Christina Williams Dana Lupynis David & Cindy Habberley Edith Goetsch Gudrun & Anya Danzer Harry McKelvie Irene Stewart Jan Calkins Neda Jevtic Nicole Habberley Sylvia Len

parrot …

Of course, we may wonder at times, if there is such a thing as a full parrot (they never seem to stop eating - unless

But both the parrots and the people had plenty to eat (and play with!) at the Greyhaven volunteer appreciation potluck dinner held in June.

Catherine and feathered pal Quincy enjoy the potluck

Summer 2009

Page 4 Directory

Teresa picks up her order during the successful DeVry Plant Sale

Botanical Blooms for Birdies!

Greyhaven’s First DeVry Spring Plant Sale fundraiser was a huge success. We raised a total of $929.82. The plants were absolutely beautiful. Many thanks go to Verna Martin who did an outstanding job in coordinating this fundraiser, and also to our volunteers, members, friends, family and work colleagues who purchased plants. A special

thanks goes to Cheryl Degraaf who let us use the Cloverdale Horseshoe Club as a drop off and pick up location.

Charity Shopping Weekend August 29-30 Greyhaven will partner with Phoenix Perennials and Specialty Plants once again for a Charity Shopping Weekend. We receive 25 per cent of each purchase, as long as the

purchaser indicates that they are there as a Greyhaven supporter.

We raised over $277.00 last year.

The address is 3380 No. 6 Road, Richmond, B.C. (604-270-4133) It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Although it is late in the gardening season, the company specializes in perennials, which is great for the avid gardener planning for the following spring.

Greyhaven Adoptions Update: The year-to-date numbers for 2009: As of June 18, 107 birds came into the Greyhaven program, 94 have been adopted.

If you would like to see a year to date breakdown, please see the “Stats at a Glance” page on our website, http://www.greyhaven.bc.ca/statsataglance.html

www.greyhaven.bc.ca