Quaker slaughter in FLA

[Lynjupiter]

Originally Posted by HareTrinity

As for bird control, what I know of it isn't too much, but it includes limitting their food supply (generally the cause of ALL "pests" is that people leave their favourite food lying about and wonder why the animals gather) and putting up models of birds of prey (which would probably help to put them off from a distance).

LOL on the food supply. This is Florida. Quakers find food on almost every tree. Palm fruit, citrus, berries, blossoms, even grass. Florida provides a good life for quakers.

They use big plastic owls to try and scare birds off. The birds seem to figure out pretty quick that the owl is a fake.
Lynda

[HareTrinity]

What exactly IS the problem with them being there?

I mean, if it's just too many in one area, they could cut down on the fruit there and move it to a better location...

Is it the noise? Are they raiding garbage?

Why do people think they're such a problem?

Or is it just like with pigeons; that people feel the need to have a say in "controlling the numbers" just because they're not human?

[Joel]

Lynda, Laurie, anyone else concerned: I talked to a "supervisor" here (on the phone) at FPL who was aware of the problem/complaints etc... and the supervisor CLAIMS that they do not gas or kill the birds at all, so she says......She says they trap/catch what they can (incl. babies & eggs) before dismantling the nests. They then send to Gainesville to the USDA Wildlife Services Dept. & they use them for research to stop the problem................ Yeah, I wonder what kind of "research", right?.....Anyway when I then tried to get further info.........BRK.........

Phone JUST rang wile I was writing you all this just now and the gentleman up in Gainesville says they do get some adults occassionally from FPL but no babies or eggs......He says that FPL says they give them to local wildlife rescue places etc. (Yeah, right again, I don't believe it).....So, back to square one. Common sense tells me that they do in fact probably euthanize/gas them as previously stated, even if they won't admit it sometimes? I will continue to look into this locally over time and see if I can save any of them personally but doubt they are gonna call me at night or whenever to come get some babies/eggs.....

Lynda and anyone else who has the time to look into all this deeper, let me know if ya need any physical help down my way as far as picking up or handfeeding babies, incubating eggs.........I do see this as a tremendous problem however with no realistic solution :( and one can only help so much & for so long in saving some but it does feel good to know we saved what we could though.......

Originally Posted by Lynjupiter

LOL on the food supply. This is Florida. Quakers find food on almost every tree. Palm fruit, citrus, berries, blossoms, even grass. Florida provides a good life for quakers.

They use big plastic owls to try and scare birds off. The birds seem to figure out pretty quick that the owl is a fake.
Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

Haretrinity,
The problem FPL has with quakers is they build these huge condo nests on lines and in substations. These nest have been known to cause power outages.
People and tourist love the quakers. It is FPL that has a problem with them.

Joel,

I truly did not expect FPL to own up to what they do. They don't want to let the public know they are responsible for killing hundreds of parrots.

I just spent a few hours with the Daveys taking them on a parrot tour to see the local nandays and quakers. For now I am to acquire a list of names and emails of those people ready to help with a rescue effort. They also said to go ahead with an online petition and making people aware of the problem with FPL.
They said not to cause a huge fuss though. They have found that a huge fuss gets them no where. They are in contact with FPL and are trying to negoiate through them. I let the Daveys know about our board and that people here wanted to help. I will stay in contact with them and do what they ask me to do to try and help them. They started this struggle with FPL and it is best to let them keep dealing with the company and give them the support they need.
The best thing we can do to help is get the book Parrots In The City, Read the website www.quakerville.com, see the pics, and try to understand more about our wild quaker friends.
Thank you everyone for your concern. I knew this board would understand my distress at the quaker slaughter.
Lynda

[Lynjupiter]

That is nice they are rescuing some of them. I wish we could set something like that on the west coast. There might be a rescue setup in Ft.L there is not elsewhere and FPL covers a very large area of our state.

But if Joann and Jon-Mark Davey say that FPL are gassing nests then they are gassing nests. The Daveys are what I consider a very reliable source. He has been on the internet almost since it started
( www.quakerville.com ) and has been very involved with the wild quaker flocks, FPL and their rescue. That is why I asked them to come and speak at my club. I wanted to know more about our wild quakers. My club loved the presentation the Daveys gave. They were not negative towards FPL. They saw the point of the need to keep power lines up. It just the slaughter of the quakers disturbs them as much as it would any quaker lover.

Lynda

[Joel]

Thanks Leah for that info.........Like Lynda says, nice to know at least some are being saved.....

Originally Posted by leah9798

Joel, down here the Wildlife Care Center does take them from FPL. It is right next to the FT.L airport. I know this because I have adopted birds from there and have seen the many many quakers they have there for adoption and have talked to the lady about this that runs adoptions. I do believe you can call and talk to them and from what I understand they will coordinate with FPL and there are people that volunteer and do go to these nests with incubators and take in the babies. If they have no volunteers to do this, then I can only guess at what happens to these babies, very very sad!!!!!! If you would like the number to WCC just let me know. Leah

[leah9798]

I love Quakers too but the problem they are going to have is that they are considered pests and a threat to our native wildlife. I really hope they are able to do something, they are great birds.

One of the things that bothers me also is that at the Wildlife Care Center at least 80% of the birds there are wild Quakers, it saddens me that these birds are now confined to cages when they were once free and just outside that building there are flocks flying free. I think it's pretty cruel. Handfed babies are different because they've never experienced it but for an animal that is used to living free it just really depresses me. :eusa_wall


Leah

Originally Posted by Joel

Thanks Leah for that info.........Like Lynda says, nice to know at least some are being saved.....

[Tiki]

Hi Lynda and everyone!

Here is a copy of the letter I emailed to FPL on the link you gave us.

It has come to my attention as a birdlover that your staff have been killing quakers (Monk parakeets). I find this totally unacceptable, the birds are not intending to cause any harm to your customer. There is no excuse for killing innocent birds who are only doing what comes naturally and nesting to raise their young. Surely a better way can be found to deal with this? Birds can be relocated in the bushland or baby birds can be handreared and sold as pets. You may notice that I am from Australia.......is this the image you want your company to have worldwide?

OK I am not the world's best letter writer, but I hope that will do.....maybe we could write to the Governor or anyone else who could help? Sorry I don't know the situation in Florida very well.

I still have a recommendation on the mod forum to get a "Birds in Danger" section just for cases like this where birds are being mistreated or killed. We have over 2600 members already and growing so I am happy to hear any suggestions as to how we as members can better help the birds we love so much.

In the meanwhile, everyone who reads this, please go to the link in Lynda's post above and write a similar (or better) letter....let's show these guys Birdboard members and Birds in general are not to be trifled with!

[Tiki]

I just thought of another way to sway public opinion......you need one of those current affairs shows or Hard Copy to get footage of sweet little baby quakers in the nests and interacting with humans....let the people see what lovely little birds they are.....then hit them with shock footage of FPL gassing them. You'll have the whole State of FLA in tears and up in arms. People usually think, oh well it's just a bird...let them see birds have feelings and personalities. At least you would get more people wanting to adopt them! Just another idea..or rather an expansion of an idea I mentioned earlier.

[HareTrinity]

Being an animal lover from England who also spends a lot of time online, I could definitely get more support from England and my online friends (mainly from the US and Canada, but still)... Just give me an address to get them to write to if you do (I figure actual letters along with the petition and emails would be more effective), and I'll gather people up. I'm pretty good at persuading when I want to, too, so I can guarantee five people off the top of my head.

I've got a friend who has an outdoor aviary in her garden, too, so she might know some other bird groups in England.

If not, I'll probably just try to direct the same people towards the petition.