Bryan McKenzie’s July 18th article on 31 macaws that are to be returned to their owner has sparked a lot of reaction from the online community. What are your thoughts on the subject?

I feel it is so unfair to move these birds once again when they are in a safe secure place.  I feel they should not go to a breeding facility this is just wrong.  Here are 31 unwanted parrots and they are going to breed more to add to the huge problem of unwanted parrots??? I do not understand how a Rescue organization like the Gabirel Foundation can in good faith support this.  They more than anyone should understand that parrto breeding is what causes unwanted parrots.  The attorneys in this case are very unimformed.  What can I do to help inform them?

What happened today is a tragedy and a travesty.  Shame on The Commonwealth Attorney for striking a bargain with individuals that were rightfully charged with animal cruelty and neglect, and shame on The Gabriel Foundation for their involvement.  I know that TGF says they were “appointed” by the Commonwealth, however, that was ONLY because they agreed to get involved and funnel these birds to one of their board members, who owns and operates a large scale breeding facility.  Just in the past couple of weeks Kathleen Szabo (the TGF board member) was advertising on the internet for hybrid macaws for breeding purposes.  Well, they are on their way to her - for FREE! 

People that are truly concerned for these long-lived and very intelligent animals will find this a horrible day for parrot rescue/sanctuary in general. We are used to the legal community treating them as chattel. Not everyone understands that these gregarious flock animals are never alone in nature and yet they are sold, back and forth, between breeders with stops in between with people who can afford the price but know nothing about the needs of a flighted, essentially wild animal. They are kept in small cages and ignored until they start self mutilating once the novelty wears off.

There are a small group of dedicated people that take these birds in and try to meet their needs, find them an acceptable home or settle them in small flocks of their own kind to live out their days in peace. We lost one of these groups today. The dollar is speaking loud and clear in this case and it is very sad because we can’t afford to lose truly compassionate people that understand. We certainly do not need these poor birds going to a wholesale breeding operation. We are not euthanizing many parrots YET but the day is clearly coming. The charade is up! Many people are in disbelief and shock, rightfully so. Gabriel Foundation - shame on you!

http://www.mytoos.com

My heart aches for the unfortunate life these birds have had.  Finally, a short lived miracle ~ Matt Smith & Project Perry ~ ocurred in their lives.  To have landed in a safe haven with quality food, fresh water, toys, cleanliness, and kind humans was truly a miracle in their life!
Today, however, is a tragedy for these voiceless souls.  How could they know that today they would be transported back to hell!  Imagine being transported in a box truck WITHOUT CLIMATE CONTROL on a 80+ degree day!! The callousness and total disregard for these souls with which the court acted is disgusting!

Because of all the public outrage the gabriel foundation has tried to spin this story and discount its participation.  But TGF, isn’t fooling anyone anymore.  No amount of spin can change the fact that they willingly participated in sealing the fate for these innocent souls.  They will pay a price though as they have discredited themselves and have lost many supporters!

These macaws were seized from horrible conditions, and are being returned eventually to the same owners, with the help of the Gabriel Foundation. These birds deserve a better life, and it is very sad that they have known a brief period of good care and attention, only to have it cruelly taken away again.

Like many people involved in bird rescue and adoption, I also find it contradictory to the mission statement of the Gabriel Foundation to have a breeder on the Board Of Directors. They have seen first-hand the overpopulation, neglect, abuse and mistreatment of companion parrots in this country. There are not enough good homes for all the parrots out there that need them, and any organization that continues to support breeders is contributing to that growing problem.

Perhaps the new slogan of the Gabriel Foundation should be:

“You remain responsible, forever, for what you have BRED”

Shame on the Gabriel Foundation!

This morning, I woke up.  I took my dogs out. Fed the birds.  Ate breakfast. Got in the car. Drove an hour and thirty minutes.  I felt a heaviness in my soul. The best I can describe is the combination of numbness and pain that comes when you are on your way to a funeral.  Your thoughts and emotions blur, and you just feel empty.  That awful feeling persisted as I arrived at Project Perry.  I watched as 31 macaws were handled with loving, gentle hands.  I watched as animal control officers brought a seemingly endless number of carriers into Project Perry, and these great creatures who have learned how to trust people in the last two months surrendered themselves to being crated.  Only a few really protested, only a few panicked…most just had a quiet trust and dignity about them, that made the situation that was unfolding even more heart breaking.  The trip to the shelter to protest seemed quick.  As a concerned citizen, I wanted to call attention to the injustice that had taken place.  I prepared myself to be emotionless as I stood there.  Instead the other protesters and I quietly made conversation..if this had happened to dogs, people WOULD care.  Imagine 31 dogs were taken from small cages in which they were intended to breed, with excrement crusted about them, rotting food, abandoned in a field, exposed to the elements. The media would have been flooded with the images of the puppy mill.  Instead only 2 news media sources covered the story.  Had the world been watching, they would have felt a victory when they saw the improvement in the 31 macaws’ lives as Project Perry took in these birds and contacted volunteers to foster them.  Lovingly and patiently these birds began to have their health restored with nearly $20,000 in vet care, fresh wholesome foods, clean water, and human attention.  Rescued. Rehabilitated.  And then this is where people should be throwing a fit; the courts rule the birds should be RETURNED.  Returned to their abusers, after an 18 month stint in a breeding facility! Where it seems like there will be far too many birds to insure that these birds, some in still fragile health, will get the care they deserve. Fighting to remain calm on the surface, I held my sign.  It said “RESCUED, REHABBED, RETURNED”.  I raised it up as a rental moving truck approached, and I watched the defendants who had been charged with animal cruelty pull down the long gravel driveway to collect the birds like property.  My heart sank even further as the reality struck me, these birds would have a 13 hour long trip to Florida in the back of a metal moving truck.  The sun was hot, I was sweating, others in our group were complaining of sunburn…I was afraid the truck would turn into an oven….we did what we could, spoke to animal control…no one had the authority to insure the healthful transport of the birds.  Where is the accountability?  Why is it acceptable to move these birds like they are furniture?  I wonder about the people involved in the courts’ decision making, I wonder about the defendants, and I wonder about the Gabriel Foundation.  How many of them profess themselves as animal lovers, as kind or caring people? Where along the way did they got lost?  When did they bury their sense of right and wrong?  How do they justify cruelty and neglect?  When did worshiping money replace their human thoughts and emotions?  I really, truly hope for these people that someday they will see the truth and understand what they have done.

Thank you for being there, Hannah. There is not much anyone can do to help them now, as is obvious. Your account is truly moving and it affords the animals the little dignity they have had in their tortured lives. Thanks to Project Perry and all the concerned individuals that helped them for the first time in their lives. No thanks to the courts, the “owners” or the pseudo-rescue, Gabriel Foundation. I notice their website is not responding this morning; more damage control, I assume.

Such a sad state to be in. We must not forget these birds and what has been done to them!

There are few nudities so objectionable as the naked truth. Agnes Repplier

http:www.mytoos.com

A sad day indeed but it is not the first nor will it be the last.  The breeding community will defend the worst of the worst in an effort to protect their “way of life”.  “Birdlover” (see comments under original article) and others like “her” may indeed love their birds but what they need to do is love ALL BIRDS.  Defending the egregious behavior that allowed poop mounds of one foot high or the poor conditions of Scudders in WA shows where the concern of the AFA, the ASA and their supporters lay, behind the people, not the birds. 

As more and more people learn of such situations and the way these people manipulate and spin the facts it will become clearer for anyone looking that those who defend their way of life with no respect for the creatures who bear the cost on their literal “backs” are morally bankrupt.  People will eventually support the welfarist stance leaving the “dinosaurs” of animal cruelty to go extinct.  Remember those who argued that we should continue whaling, or those defending the clubbing of seals?  People are not as stupid as the breeding community think they are, their “spin” and convoluted “facts” will be revealed sooner or later. 

One quick observation, should not the prosecutors be prosecuted for animal cruelty?  After all, they have ignored their own rulings and returned the parrots to their abusers.  Was it not stipulated that TGF or its representatives pick up these birds for transport to the breeding facility in FL?  Do we even know where they are today? 

Marc Johnson
Foster Parrots

Some of us in the avian community have our differences, however, none of us are animal abusers and we all wish to see birds flying free in the rainforests where they belong.

The Crosswhites are animal abusers.  The macaws were found to be in extremely poor health and had mutilated themselves out of frustration—what kind of a society are we living in that permits beautiful and intelligent parrots to be used for breeding purposes only—their babies sold to become other breeders.

This is dispicable behavior motivated by sheer greed, and what makes it worse is they are supported by the Gabriel Foundation and Sanctuary and by the American Federation of Aviculture.  These two organizations as quoted in their Mission Statements support captive breeding; however, their Mission Statements must be amended to include “animal abuse”.

If these were human children, human rights organizations and our government would have taken them away and their abusers jailed; however, because these are parrots, the victims are being returned to the abusers.

You can see their sad story here:  http://www.wtvr.com/global/story.asp?s=8318254

We urge decent people everywhere to contact the media and Diana Wheeler, the attorney in Orange County:  Her email address is dwheeler@orangecoun tyva.gov . 

The website is:
http://orangecountyva.gov/courtservices/commonwealth.asp.

We respectfully ask that you do not support the Gabriel Foundation/Sanctuary nor the American Federation of Aviculture, who are partners in this crime.

Thank you,
Anna Dove
New York Bird Club

I am disgusted that the birds are allowed to go back to their first owners. When they were seized their cages had huge piles of feces in them, many were rusted shut, and their water was filthy. Many also need a great deal of expensive vet care. I cannot see how that cannot be considered to be neglect.  Why have so many birds if you cannot afford to care for them or cannot be bothered to even clean their cages?

These poor animals are not “things;“ they can feel pain and stress and they deserve so much more than filthy wire cages, dirty water, and neglect. Now they get to be crammed in the back of a hot, stuffy trailer to an uncertain fate.

I guess NO posts in favor of the Crosswhite’s are allowed. I posted one last night and I think someone else did also. So is the paper owned by anti-breeding fanatics?

There are rescues and sanctuaries quietly doing good work *every day of the year*.  The Gabriel Foundation is one of the good guys! There are also rescues and sanctuaries that are NOT doing good work. Those who are posting against TGF have been misled by egocentric, self-important con artists for whom the animals are *much less important* than their own self-aggrandizement. The news media ought to be ashamed of themselves too for NOT doing adequate research and instead following the jackal pack for the kill.
We need to wake up and realize the real damage that these fanatics are doing. The tragic thing is that because they are so good at the shell game, they have convinced the media that they are right and the animal owners are horrid. That is NOT true in this case, and in too many others where this type of railroading and seizure under color of law is occurring.
Technical question: The articles keep saying there were 31 macaws. What happened to 32 and 33—the TAME PET GREENWING MACAWS that were the Crosswhite’s personal birds? Who stole them? And yes, it is theft—it is NOT rescue. True rescuers who can use common sense and see beyond the vitriolic rhetoric are appalled at the fiasco that has gone on this case.
The tragedy is that the Crosswhite’s had enough personal losses in their lives without fanatics and thieves stealing from them and trying to trample them in the dust. How *humane* is that? Whatever happened to helping one’s neighbor instead of setting on them like a pack of blood-thirsty jackals, each intent on rending and hauling off his share of the kill? If someone will do that to another person, how can we believe them when they scream ‘it’s for the animals?‘ I don’t believe it!

Did you see the conditions the birds were kept in?

http://www.madmacaws.net/Seizure.html

Take a good look before feeling sorry for the poor Crosswhites.  Those cages didn’t get in that condition overnight, or even a week.  Pretty obvious they’d been there quite a while.  I particularly like the green water in the bottles, nice touch.

As to TGF, shame on them for aiding and abetting the Crosswhites.  Ultimately, the Crosswhites will fail to pay the County what is owed, and the birds will be put up onto the auction block, to go to yet another miserable existence. 

They were making progress and regaining some of their health and vigor at the sanctuary.

Did you read the last paragraph of my post? Let me repeat it, lest you don’t understand what I’m saying: The tragedy is that the Crosswhite’s had enough personal losses in their lives without fanatics and thieves stealing from them and trying to trample them in the dust. How *humane* is that? Whatever happened to helping one’s neighbor instead of setting on them like a pack of blood-thirsty jackals, each intent on rending and hauling off his share of the kill? If someone will do that to another person, how can we believe them when they scream ‘it’s for the animals?’ I don’t believe it!

I’ve seen enough to know that although conditions were not ideal, but there were extenuating circumstances and HELP was needed—NOT seizure, NOT criminalization and opportunistic THEFT and grandstanding that was NOT on behalf of the birds, but rather to serve an anti-breeder, anti-bird-owning agenda of the animal rights fanatics and their AR-zombies! Compassionate, helpful humans assisting other humans and their animals do not do things like this. To which category do you belong?

It’s crystal clear that the major culprits in this fiasco were NOT the Crosswhites, who were absolutely the VICTIMS. The birds suffer because the jackals don’t care about the birds—that’s window-dressing for the REAL agenda, one of egotism and self-aggrandizement, plus a dash or two of good ole GREED.

“Birdandhorselover”,

Fanatical is what the morally corrupt call the passionate