Crows & Parrots Outwit Exterminators

“Year of the Dog” starts well (page 3) Crows & parrots Falcons, chickens, & avian flu outwit Falconing, along with factory efforts to contain H5N1, according to the farming, cockfighting, bird-shooting, wild United Nations Food & Agriculture bird trafficking, and keeping caged song- Organization––almost entirely because of exterminators birds, has emerged as a factor in the the persistence of practices long opposed by increasingly rapid global spread of the dead- the humane community. ly H5N1 avian influenza. Falconing became implicated DARIEN (Ct.), SAN FRANCISCO As the March 2006 edition of when five trained hunting birds died from ––Crows and parrots, believed to represent the ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, 92 H5N1 at a veterinary clinic in Riyadh, apex of avian intelligence, evolved in an envi- humans in seven nations had died from Saudi Arabia. Saudi agriculture ministry ronment favoring agility and efficiency in the H5N1. More than 30 nations had experi- officials confiscated and killed 37 falcons lightest possible package. enced H5N1 outbreaks since 2003, 14 of who were kept at the clinic. Any air war strategist could therefore them since February 1, 2006. Hit, in “The virus might have been intro- predict the outcome in conflict between the bird chronological order, were Iraq, Nigeria, duced by illegally imported falcons from brains and exterminators with thoughts of lead. Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, China and Mongolia early in the season,” Foes of crows with shotguns, fire- Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Egypt, the moderators of the International Society works, lasers, and recorded distress calls took India, France, and Hungary. for Infectious Diseases posted to the soci- the most murderous toll on crows they could More than 200 million domestic ety’s ProMED online bulletin board. during the winter of 2005-2006, on battlefields fowl have been killed in mostly futile ProMED zoonotic disease moder- from upstate New York and the Philadelphia ator Arnon Shimshony called for “enhanc- suburbs to the Rocky Mountains. ing the alertness of authorities responsible Most of the crows, however, are still for control of international trade in avians, there, or at least not very far away. (Marc Johnson) with special attention to captive birds. Attempted parrot purges have been January that a week of nonlethal hazing had “Earlier H5N1 incidents related to no more successful, even though the entire driven all but 500 crows out of Auburn, New such trade have been recorded in Taiwan, U.S. wild parrot population is believed to be York, where as many as 33,000 congregated a Belgium, the U.K., and probably else- probably about 20,000, not more than 50,000 few weeks earlier. Complaints about crows where,” reminded Shimshony, who is a by the highest serious estimates. About 7,000 meanwhile erupted in Syracuse, Marcellus, member of the Koret School of Veterinary parrots, mostly monk parakeets and conures, Cazenovia, and Cortland, noted Syracuse Post- Medicine faculty at the Hebrew University live in California, with at least 2,000 monk Standard staff writer John Stith. of Jerusalem. parakeets in Florida. Then the 60 participants in the third (continued on page 17) USDA Wildlife Services claimed in (continued on page 12) ANIMAL PEOPLE News For People Who Care About Animals March 2006 Volume XVI, #2 Falcon at the Kalahari Raptor Centre. (Kim Bartlett) Drought tests Kenyan and + Zimbabwean hunting policies + NAIROBI, HARARE––The vultures of their former range. Attendees were critical inspecting drought-parched Kenya and of Kenya––whose lion population has been Zimbabwe have counterparts in the corridors poached to the verse of extirpation from many of national capitols, watching to see whose regions––for prohibiting lion hunting. wildlife management mode will fail first. The conference closed by issuing a Kenya, since banning sport hunting in joint statement favoring trophy hunting “as a 1977, has made non-consumptive wildlife way to help alleviate human-lion conflict and watching the nation’s second largest and best generate economic benefits for poor people to known industry. build their support for lion conservation.” Much of the faltering Zimbabwean This was an endorsement of the economy is based on trophy hunting. Zimbabwean economic model. But economic The Kenyan model requires attracting good times ended in Zimbabwe more than five large numbers of tourists, who in good times years ago. employ thousands of hotel staff, drivers, The Kenyan economy, despite a crip- guides, and souvenir vendors. pling drought in 2000, as well as the current The Zimbabwean model draws far drought, continued to improve. Relative pros- fewer people, who seek much less by way of perity helped opponents of trophy hunting to accommodation, minimizing the need for up- persuade Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to Wolf. (Robert L. Harrison) front investment in infrastructure. Yet trophy veto a hunting authorization bill that cleared hunters spend considerably more per person the national legislature in December 2004, THE WEST AIN’T BIG ENOUGH FOR than wildlife-watchers. pushed by wealthy landowners seeking to capi- The prospect of high return from low talize on Zimbabwean instability. investment has tended to encourage other But hard times in much of Kenya, US & WILDLIFE, CLAIM RANCHERS African nations to emulate Zimbabwe rather despite 5% economic growth in 2005, may YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL calves, and six dogs.” than Kenya. have increased the inclination of politicians to PARK––The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on The delisting would include all “Theoretically, hunting is a fantastic try to cash in on wildlife before losing it, after February 2, 2006 recommended removing wolves in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, the way to preserve very large eco-systems,” already losing visitors who prefer not to see gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and Laikipia Predator Project director Lawrence animals dying from thirst and starvation. from the federal endangered species list, 10 part of north-central Utah––everywhere that Frank told a conference of the International The political tendency to think short- years after the first of more than 60 wolves wolves from the Yellowstone region are Union for the Conservation of Nature and term is why Youth for Conservation founder translocated from Canada were experimentally known to have wandered, except Colorado. World Conservation Union in Johannesburg in Josphat Ngonyo sees as a priority an ongoing released into Yellowstone National Park and “In 2004 a young, radio-collared January 2006, “but the practicalities of getting campaign against exporting 175 Kenyan ani- central Idaho. female wolf from Yellowstone was found that money to the little guys who are paying mals to the newly opened Chiang Mai Night As of 2004, there were officially dead near Idaho Springs, Colorado,” recalled the costs is a huge issue.” Safari Zoo in Thailand––a deal concluded by 153 wolves in Montana, 260 wolves in Denver Post staff writer Kim McGuire. “A The conference was called to address President Kibaki himself. Wyoming, and 422 wolves in Idaho. There year later, the state wildlife commission the loss of African lions from more than 80% (continued on page 9) are now nearly 1,000 wolves in the three approved a plan to manage packs that come states, said federal wolf recovery coordinator into Colorado. That plan says the state will let Ed Bangs. The species recovery targets were wolves roam where they choose, but urges met in 2002, Bangs said. killing wolves who prey on livestock.” “Federal agents and livestock own- Polls indicate that about two-thirds ers have legally killed more than 300 wolves of Colorado residents favor wolf recovery. in the region that were confirmed or suspected Defenders of Wildlife in September 2005 of having preyed upon livestock,” wrote John offered to compensate Colorado ranchers for Miller of Associated Press. “In 2005, federal livestock losses if reintroduction proceeds. wildlife agents investigated 93 rancher com- Defenders of Wildlife has paid plaints, with wolves confirmed or suspected of ranchers more than $500,000 for confirmed having killed 181 sheep, 18 calves, six cows, livestock losses to wolves in connection with and 11 dogs. That compares to 2003, when the Yellowstone region reintroduction and the wolves were blamed for killing 118 sheep, 13 (continued on page 18) 2 - ANIM AL PEOPLE, March 2006 meals. She can’t understand how she is able to be warm without find- ing a hole in the ground to curl up in . and she can’t begin to fathom what all our love and kindness means. She wants to run from it, because she’s afraid of what she doesn’t understand. But Brooklyn also senses that we are looking after her . so she remains confused . torn . because the lack of struggle, the abundance, is so utterly foreign to her. Brooklyn is now a D.E.L.T.A. Rescue cat. That means no more suffering alone in the wild, where her parents were abandoned. She will be safe and loved and fed and cared for . for the rest of her life. She will even have the one thing she has secretly wanted more than anything else . other cats to talk to. AND SHE DOESN’T HAVE TO EARN IT! No . she d o e s n ’t have to be a lap cat to “deserve” all of this. She can be either a March 2006 c a t ’s cat, or a people cat . we will shower her with love in either Dear Partner, c a s e . Brooklyn hid in a pile of rocks, among the ground squirrels, This is Brooklyn’s time . it’s a celebration of her courage, where we have a feeding station for abandoned dogs. and of her gift to us . her life. But time passes so quickly, and we She was born in the wilderness, and has never been around know that so well .

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