Debunking Animal Rights Claims

Abstract

A viculture has been under attack from the Animal Rights movement for many years, but these attacks have increased dramatically in the last few years. An Animal Rights propaganda war against pet bird keeping and breeding has created an atmosphere ripe for the passage of legislation that will restrict or remove the right to keep and breed birds.

The following are some recent examples of legislation promoted by Animal Rights groups or put forth by well-meaning legislators who are misinformed by AR lobbyists.

• Airline Restrictions - Attempts to place overly burdensome requirements for Airlines to carry live animal shipments, thereby stopping the interstate shipment of birds and other pet animals.

• Guardianship Laws - Replacing the term "owner" with "guardian" is one of the most dangerous Animal Rights strategies. It removes your property rights and will lead to the confiscation of birds, the prohibiting of the transfer of breeding stock, and the skyrocketing of veterinary costs.

• "Parrots defined as Wild Animals" - This will place birds under the same restrictions as big cats such as lions.

• Inclusion of Birds in the Animal Welfare Act - will lead to U.S.D.A. inspection and licensing of bird breeding facilities.

• Texas HB 2328 (pending) - Requires all Texas facilities to be licensed by the State of Texas and includes regular inspections and fees in addition to U.S.D.A. inspections and fees.

• California AB 202 (pending) Original version would have prohibited the possession of unweaned birds, thus making bird breeding illegal in California.

It is important to understand the difference between Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Animal Welfare philosophy holds that animals should be treated with the care and compassion which will lead to a healthy and positive result for animals and humans.

People who subscribe to Animal Rights philosophy believe that animals should not be used by humans at all. Any use of animals is exploitive and cruel. They believe that animals should be equal (or superior) to humans. In this philosophy, teaching your dog to sit and stay is comparable to slavery, and the ownership of animals is immoral and evil.

The Animal Rights movement is also intent on forcing their beliefs on the general public through the legislative process. Legislation is introduced at the urgings of Animal Rights groups who promote their bills with false claims and bogus data from convincing sounding sources. Animal Rights groups are well known by legislators who view their supporters as a signifi-

cant voting block. Legislators believe they are supporting worthy causes and in so doing are getting the support of a well defined block of voters.

Because of their familiarity with legislation, Animal Rights groups will also exploit existing, often obscure, laws to harass those who keep or use animals. A current example of this tactic is happening in California where an Animal Rights sympathizer is threatening to arrest officers of bird clubs who have raffles for live birds at their meetings. In this case, an obsolete law is being used. The law was originally enacted to stop merchants from giving away chicks or ducklings, particularly around Easter, as prizes to entice customers into their stores. But as it is written, it could be misapplied to include vital fund-raising raffles of that include birds at local bird club meetings. Whether it is through existing obscure laws or passing new restrictive laws, the Animal Rights movement will progress in small increments to slowly take away our ability to keep birds, or other animals.

To further their agenda, the Animal Rights movement has instituted a propaganda war to negatively affect the public's perception as well as our legislators' perceptions regarding bird keeping. Below are a few recent claims promoted by Animal Rights individuals followed by the truth of the matter:

in the Los Angeles area are the result of disgruntled pet owners who discarded their birds during the 'pet bird boom' of the 1990s."

Truth

In reality, the wild flocks of parrots have been established here since the 1960s. They are the result of escaped wild-caught birds that were still being imported at the time. Because these birds escaped from dealers, few if any of the founding members of these free-living flocks were ever household pets. These escaped birds found suitable habitat amongst the exotic tree species used in urban and suburban landscaping. As evidenced in research by Kimball Garrett of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, some species of parrots have found this exotic landscape so suitable that they are successfully reproducing and are steadily increasing in numbers. 

 

 

 

 

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