idealist.org

Need someone in the New York area to work on proposed petstore legislation as follows:

NEW YORK, NY. — Animal lovers are taking sides over proposed legislation that would prohibit people in New York state from owning several species of wild birds as pets. The proposed list includes African Grey parrots, Cockatoos, Eclectus, Macaws and other avian wildlife.

The measure is supported by Friends of Animals, an animal rights organization whose main office is in Darien, CT.

Birds are designed to fly, to flock with others. Being imprisoned in a cage and waiting for human attention is outrageous. We have no right to impose this relationship and call the bird our pet. The animals are treated like merchandise to sell rather than living creatures, and the staff lack the knowledge and experience to sucessfully answer customer queries about the animals they are buying.

"Don't make the mistake," Anna Dove, President of the New York Bird Club told her constituents , "just because a bird sits on somebody's shoulder and dances doesn't mean it isn't going to rip your face off, to be perfectly blunt."

Opponents of the legislation said the bill could hurt legitimate businesses and hobbies such as zoos and petstores and that the state shouldn't get involved at all, but leave it to the counties to draft their own rules.

Dove said the state legislation was necessary to protect animals and humans from wild pets.

"There's never a safe moment," Dove said, "when you're bird is outside of the cage interacting with family members, there's never a safe moment when you're doing things like that."

The proposed bill provides exemptions for legitimate enterprises such as licensed sanctuaries, and Dove said it was designed to target people who keep the animals as pets but allows a grandfather clause to exempt current pet owners from the ban.

Legislation is expected to be drafted sometime this year.

Anna Dove, nybirdclub@yahoo.com, www.manhattanbirdclub.com