"Recapturing Escaped Quakers"

By Mattie Sue Athan

My booklet, "Keeping Quaker Parrots Tame", was published, not only to support the goal of beloved, well-behaved Quakers, but also to increase awareness regarding the ethics and recapture of all non-native pet birds (especially Quakers) in the hope that today's modest numbers of handfed Quakers will not be viewed with the same prejudice as their copiously-imported, wild- hatched predecessors. Colorado Avian Veterinarian, Dr. Jerry LaBonde has been often heard to say, "If it's been in accident, it's probably a cockatoo. If it flew away, it's probably a Quaker."

As one engaged in the recapture of non-native species in Colorado for many years, I can't disagree. I have recovered many Quaker parrots, both wild-caught and handfed; and there are some remarkable differences between the two. The wild-caught Quaker is a bird-identified bird that learned to survive in the wild; the wild-caught Quaker must be recaptured.

The handfed Quaker is a human-identified bird that learned to survive by begging food from humans. The "secret" of "recapturing" a handfed domestic Quaker is that it isn't "recapture" at all, it is a PUBLIC RELATIONS job. "Recapturing" a handfed domestic Quaker means finding WHICH human the bird went to when it was time to eat, drink, or go to bed.

Handfed domestic Quakers simply haven't the skills or the will to live outdoors. Presuming they haven't been terribly abused (and probably even if they have), they will want to be with people first. This might be mitigated by a breeding age Quaker with a real mate (not the bell) wanting to find that mate (in which case the bird would go at least once to any Quaker and any time to the actual mate).

Everybody knows to go after a lost dog or cat, but when a bird flies away, many people just say, "Oh well."

The Companion Animal Education Foundation
P. O. Box 40544
Denver, CO 80204
(Kathy Kullback 303-333-8405)

is helping me with bookings to give a free recapture slide show for clubs (we expect the local club to pay travel expenses and provide a room for a behavior problems workshop). We believe there is a need for better education, especially regarding the ethics of recapture. A lost, non-native pet bird is in personal danger from the environment AND it represents a danger to the native species in the environment. Just as a hunter must stay in the field until a wounded animal is finished, a responsible aviculturist must "stay with" a lost pet until it is recaptured.

If we don't understand and attend to this matter of responsibility and ethics we could lose the right to own ANY non-native birds, not just Quakers. The Colorado Departments of Wildlife and Agriculture just got several more species of finches added to what we cannot have in Colorado, but thankfully, the Quaker parrot was not among them.