The Sale Of Unweaned Babies
BY LAURELLA DESBOROUGH
Copyright Laurella Desbrough (eclectusbreeder.com).
All rights reserved by the author.
This issue is surfacing repeatedly.
We can expect proposed laws and
regulations regarding this matter.
The issue appears clear-cut on the
surface, but it is not
straightforward. When members of the
general public purchase unweaned
baby birds and have problems trying
to raise these birds, they are going
to have complaints. Many of these
complaints seem to originate from
sales of unweaned babies that occur
at bird fairs and marts where
members of the general public have
access to baby birds and the vendors
proceed to sell unweaned babies to
them.
Some bird mart vendors typically
provide little in the way of
information or instruction or
equipment for the proper brooding
and hand feeding of these babies.
Many of these babies end up in
veterinary clinics where they are
diagnosed as stunted, or suffering
from malnutrition and from bacterial
infections. The inexperienced
purchaser of the baby bird generally
can't recognize signs of distress or
illness until the situation is
critical. Sometimes it is too late
to save the baby bird. The larger
psittacines, such as cockatoos and
macaws, seem to be at more risk.
These problems do not seem to occur
with the sale of unweaned babies to
pet stores with personnel trained in
acceptable methods of hand-feeding,
nor in the sale of unweaned babies
to experienced hand-feeders. For a
variety of reasons, all bird
breeders are not able to hand-feed
the birds produced by their breeding
pairs. If these baby birds are to be
sold to the pet market, they will
generally need to be sold unweaned.
It is a matter of concern that
proposed regulations might prevent
the sale of unweaned babies by
breeders to experienced hand-feeders
or to stores with trained personnel.
Some bird mart managers are setting
rules prohibiting offering unweaned
babies for sale. When this issue is
addressed in a proactive way by the
avicultural community, the lives of
many baby birds will be improved,
and there will be less pressure
placed on states to regulate the
sale of unweaned babies. Certainly
such self-regulation is preferred
over state regulation.
