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P&B Readers' Birds


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2 hours ago, Richey Edwards said:

Why would anyone want to cull such beautiful birds? What harm are they doing?

 

2 hours ago, Hillonearth said:

None really to be honest....they're a bit noisy and they'll maybe cause a bit of damage in orchards is all.

DEFRA have got form for this though...they seem to have a hard-on for eradicating non-native species at the moment. They all but wiped out the feral population of the American Ruddy Duck due to some fairly spurious fears that the males - who can be a bit rapey even by duck standards - might wander to Spain and hybridise a closely-related species out of existence.

No sign of them wanting to wipe out the UK pheasant population which only arrived here by human agency during the Roman occupation though...their Tory overlords are too fond of hunting them.

There's different forms  to the term "invasive".  They could be taking over habitat or food sources detrimental to the native species. Agree it seems harsh to cull them but you only need to look at the irreversible damage done in Australia where foxes were introduced.

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Girlfriends brother has an African grey parrot and it is a total p***k. It even looks like a p***k. It would take your finger off if you put it near the cage and gives you the old contracting pupils stare if look at it.
I spent a year trying to make friends with it. I would pass it in a monkey nut and the fucker will just drop it on the ground then go and get it when your not looking to not give you the satisfaction.
It can do all the ringtones of the family's phones. They got an electronic doorbell with choice of chimes and it can do all of them.
It says loads of words but only if it's being ignored and clams up if you try to engage.
Just a bad attitude bird that they will have for decades! No chance it will ever escape either because it can't be let out
[emoji1]

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11 hours ago, sjc said:

 

There's different forms  to the term "invasive".  They could be taking over habitat or food sources detrimental to the native species. Agree it seems harsh to cull them but you only need to look at the irreversible damage done in Australia where foxes were introduced.

Agreed to a certain extent - if there was a danger of displacing native species like the grey squirrel has with the red over most of the country it would certainly make sense.

Obviously we don't have any native parrots,  so nothing's really filling that ecological niche at the moment. There's a possibility they might compete with woodpeckers for nesting holes in trees, but that's about it in terms of impact on native species.

It would just seem a shame to wipe out what could end up being an attractive addition to our birdlife for dogmatic reasons - effectively solely due to the fact it's not a natural colonist from mainland Europe.

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As a kid, our neighbour had some sort bird as a pet. Seem to remember it being a budgie but f**k knows. Anyway, it seemed shite and they were strange. Bloke was sound, the kids were never out playing and were too pale and the wife never spoke or acknowledged anyone. Strange folk. Stands to reason anyone that keeps any birds as a pet is strange.

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2 hours ago, Hillonearth said:

Agreed to a certain extent - if there was a danger of displacing native species like the grey squirrel has with the red over most of the country it would certainly make sense.

Obviously we don't have any native parrots,  so nothing's really filling that ecological niche at the moment. There's a possibility they might compete with woodpeckers for nesting holes in trees, but that's about it in terms of impact on native species.

It would just seem a shame to wipe out what could end up being an attractive addition to our birdlife for dogmatic reasons - effectively solely due to the fact it's not a natural colonist from mainland Europe.

Don't disagree with any of that. If there's no risk to native species then there should be no cull. I'd say this needs to be monitored long term though. That said, this should be done with ALL species of wildlife to maintain a healthy balance, native or otherwise.

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  • 2 years later...

I think saying "birds are great pets" is a bit of a generalisation. I don't imagine a golden eagle would make for a great companion with their razor sharp beaks and talons. Having a penguin pottering about your house would be quite cool though. 

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1 hour ago, Dee Man said:

I think saying "birds are great pets" is a bit of a generalisation. I don't imagine a golden eagle would make for a great companion with their razor sharp beaks and talons. Having a penguin pottering about your house would be quite cool though. 

Anyone of my generation who can remember from their childhood the tales of Arabella's raven Mortimer might consider the merits of a pet corvid.

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