[Applause]
with the show of hands how many of you
have owned a pet how about a pet bird
and how many of you know the origins of
that pet or bird now I’m sure a lot of
you have different answers the pet store
the market the roadside and egg and you
know be correct but what did these pets
were not in your home where would they
be if not sold in the markets on the
side of the road has someone who has
owned pet birds since the age of nine I
can tell you that I never really thought
about where birds came from until I
moved to Nicaragua when I arrived here
it surprised and then upset me to see
Birds being sold in the side of the road
tied up to six like this when I asked
the vendors about this they said they
usually had around two to four Birds
which they tried to sell in pairs and
they sold around three different species
after doing a bit more investigating I
also found that these birds are being
caught and sold in markets many birds
were crammed into one small cage now
imagine you and five of your closest
friends crammed into the VM in the back
seat of a car meant for three not very
comfortable right on top of that these
birds aren’t always being taken care of
correctly oftentimes their wings have
been clipped did you know that vendors
or owners of Birds clip the wings so
they won’t fly away but if this is done
to birds that are not meant to be raised
in captivity it can cause permanent
damage when a bird can no longer act and
its natural instincts to fly it can lead
to psychological and physical problems
one example of this is this macaw whose
wings are both broken in the illegal
bird trade and now it can no longer fly
it actually flex its own feathers which
is a sign of stress or boredom
according to pet MD now imagine not
being able to use your legs which is the
reality for some of us how would your
life be different
with your personal with your main motive
sells transportation taken away you can
no longer walk run or drive without
assistance how would you like to be
different with your personal freedom
taken away sure you might adjust
physically but would you be depressed I
imagine that this is how the macaw feels
for a long time
birds of represented freedom but if
their gift of flight were to be taken
what then would they represent it
devastates me to continue seeing this
problem no the others don’t realize
birds are being taken from their natural
habitats and being sold for our
entertainment and this isn’t just a
problem here in Nicaragua this is a
problem worldwide where birds all over
are becoming more scarce in the wild
partially due to the illegal trade
according to the Animal Welfare
Institute one in every three species a
parrot is under threat of extinction and
that’s just parrots
imagine what the statistic must be for
all other kinds of birds – furthermore
the economic gain from this is not
sustainable people participating in the
illegal trade often catch too many birds
to compensate for the fact that 60% of
birds will die any illegal trade
if birds continue to be caught and sold
like this the cycle will continue like
in any market if we keep creating a
demand for these birds and the suppliers
will likewise continue selling and if
the birds cannot reproduce fast enough
to replenish their natural populations
eventually many birds without sync in
the wild imagine a world without any
birds no chickens parrots
penguins hummingbirds or Hawks or any
other kind now it may seem like an easy
thing to do but it would have a lot of
negative impacts that we don’t
necessarily foresee and why should you
care because birds help us in many ways
the first is that they control the
insect populations without Birds we
would have higher amounts of harmful
insects like mosquitos and diseases
carried by them would be on the rise
second birds help with pollination and
the spreading of seas which leads to
biodiversity and in an article according
an article by NPR
there they say that 40% of invertebrate
pollinators are under threat of
extinction so we need birds that provide
the service more than ever
third the ecosystem ecosystems would be
out of balance due to the trophic
cascade and caused by the loss of
predatory birds for example today we
have an owl and this owl eats rabbits
and other rodents but it was suddenly
taken out of the equation so these
rabbits and other rodents grow in
population but with the growing
population they need to consume more
food so eventually they run out of a
food source and they’re left to have to
leave the habitat and search for another
source of food
now other predators in the area can no
longer don’t no longer have a food
source either and they must leave as
well the result is that the system
cannot be sustained and fourth birds add
a little bit of beauty to our day for
example the bird song imagine waking up
in the morning or going outside and
hearing no birds it would be a pretty
dull and much quieter so there’s the
issue and you may be wondering what can
I do about it well we can no longer
support the illegal bird tree and the
power to do this lays in our hands alone
now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t own
pet birds there are so many birds
already in captivity but it would be
crazy to say that they should all go
without a home but we should rethink the
process of buying and caring for birds
so when going to buy a bird do you read
the species if the species a bird that
you’re gonna buy the vendors where do
the vendors get their birds do they get
them from the wild or from a certified
breeder the breeders look into the
breeders practices and
check to see if they’re living in a
healthy environment when they breed the
birds know how to properly care for your
bird be sure to check with your local
veterinarian about your birds health and
be sure to do research online beforehand
so you know you’re buying the right
enclosure and accessories and finally by
putting your bird for the right reasons
often we buy birds just for show and we
leave them in the cages all day to be
living decorations but if you’re gonna
buy a bird you must be willing to commit
time to letting it fly freely in your
house to playing with it or to even
bringing it outside with the bird Marcus
the more effort you put into it the more
the more happy that you and your bird
can be now it is definitely possible to
change the way that we care for birds
and there are people doing this today
one person is Chris Bureau who’s the
founder and president of the nonprofit
bird recovery international now he is
leading in the scientific movement of
free flying birds and raising captive
baby birds to be able to survive in the
wild his organization has classes to
teach free flying and they are working
on conservation efforts worldwide so I
got some help and got into contact with
him and we had a conversation about what
he’s doing so he told me that this all
started when one of his birds kept on
escaping from an aviary but he noticed
that it would always come back so he
applied this to free flying birds
because he knew that they knew how to
come back from realize that if he taught
baby birds how to survive in the wild
from a young age and how to free fly
then he could replenish wild populations
by breeding birds one limiting factor to
this is actually the government
regulation on birds he told me that a
lot of a lot of his recon servation
efforts have been hindered because of
government regulation of owning Indian
your birds oftentimes they’re not you’re
not able to trade them so he could not
repopulate these populations and many of
these verses will continue to go extinct
because of this so ironically the
problem of going birds going extinct in
the wild is continuing due to legal and
illegal practices
now he finished her conversation by
showing us some of the birds that he
owns so here is a son parakeet family in
their home for travelling and here is
Gena
who can sing a beautiful rendition of
Old MacDonald now if you’re not ready to
own Gena that’s okay just know you we
can also enjoy birds outdoors and in the
wilds last thing I want to say is to
spread this information let other people
know about the issues so that together
we can stop it and change our ways the
more people working against the illegal
bird trade the more likely it is to be
abolished
so that birds can continue to represent
freedom thank you
[Applause]
with the show of hands how many of you
have owned a pet how about a pet bird
and how many of you know the origins of
that pet or bird now I’m sure a lot of
you have different answers the pet store
the market the roadside and egg and you
know be correct but what did these pets
were not in your home where would they
be if not sold in the markets on the
side of the road has someone who has
owned pet birds since the age of nine I
can tell you that I never really thought
about where birds came from until I
moved to Nicaragua when I arrived here
it surprised and then upset me to see
Birds being sold in the side of the road
tied up to six like this when I asked
the vendors about this they said they
usually had around two to four Birds
which they tried to sell in pairs and
they sold around three different species
after doing a bit more investigating I
also found that these birds are being
caught and sold in markets many birds
were crammed into one small cage now
imagine you and five of your closest
friends crammed into the VM in the back
seat of a car meant for three not very
comfortable right on top of that these
birds aren’t always being taken care of
correctly oftentimes their wings have
been clipped did you know that vendors
or owners of Birds clip the wings so
they won’t fly away but if this is done
to birds that are not meant to be raised
in captivity it can cause permanent
damage when a bird can no longer act and
its natural instincts to fly it can lead
to psychological and physical problems
one example of this is this macaw whose
wings are both broken in the illegal
bird trade and now it can no longer fly
it actually flex its own feathers which
is a sign of stress or boredom
according to pet MD now imagine not
being able to use your legs which is the
reality for some of us how would your
life be different
with your personal with your main motive
sells transportation taken away you can
no longer walk run or drive without
assistance how would you like to be
different with your personal freedom
taken away sure you might adjust
physically but would you be depressed I
imagine that this is how the macaw feels
for a long time
birds of represented freedom but if
their gift of flight were to be taken
what then would they represent it
devastates me to continue seeing this
problem no the others don’t realize
birds are being taken from their natural
habitats and being sold for our
entertainment and this isn’t just a
problem here in Nicaragua this is a
problem worldwide where birds all over
are becoming more scarce in the wild
partially due to the illegal trade
according to the Animal Welfare
Institute one in every three species a
parrot is under threat of extinction and
that’s just parrots
imagine what the statistic must be for
all other kinds of birds – furthermore
the economic gain from this is not
sustainable people participating in the
illegal trade often catch too many birds
to compensate for the fact that 60% of
birds will die any illegal trade
if birds continue to be caught and sold
like this the cycle will continue like
in any market if we keep creating a
demand for these birds and the suppliers
will likewise continue selling and if
the birds cannot reproduce fast enough
to replenish their natural populations
eventually many birds without sync in
the wild imagine a world without any
birds no chickens parrots
penguins hummingbirds or Hawks or any
other kind now it may seem like an easy
thing to do but it would have a lot of
negative impacts that we don’t
necessarily foresee and why should you
care because birds help us in many ways
the first is that they control the
insect populations without Birds we
would have higher amounts of harmful
insects like mosquitos and diseases
carried by them would be on the rise
second birds help with pollination and
the spreading of seas which leads to
biodiversity and in an article according
an article by NPR
there they say that 40% of invertebrate
pollinators are under threat of
extinction so we need birds that provide
the service more than ever
third the ecosystem ecosystems would be
out of balance due to the trophic
cascade and caused by the loss of
predatory birds for example today we
have an owl and this owl eats rabbits
and other rodents but it was suddenly
taken out of the equation so these
rabbits and other rodents grow in
population but with the growing
population they need to consume more
food so eventually they run out of a
food source and they’re left to have to
leave the habitat and search for another
source of food
now other predators in the area can no
longer don’t no longer have a food
source either and they must leave as
well the result is that the system
cannot be sustained and fourth birds add
a little bit of beauty to our day for
example the bird song imagine waking up
in the morning or going outside and
hearing no birds it would be a pretty
dull and much quieter so there’s the
issue and you may be wondering what can
I do about it well we can no longer
support the illegal bird tree and the
power to do this lays in our hands alone
now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t own
pet birds there are so many birds
already in captivity but it would be
crazy to say that they should all go
without a home but we should rethink the
process of buying and caring for birds
so when going to buy a bird do you read
the species if the species a bird that
you’re gonna buy the vendors where do
the vendors get their birds do they get
them from the wild or from a certified
breeder the breeders look into the
breeders practices and
check to see if they’re living in a
healthy environment when they breed the
birds know how to properly care for your
bird be sure to check with your local
veterinarian about your birds health and
be sure to do research online beforehand
so you know you’re buying the right
enclosure and accessories and finally by
putting your bird for the right reasons
often we buy birds just for show and we
leave them in the cages all day to be
living decorations but if you’re gonna
buy a bird you must be willing to commit
time to letting it fly freely in your
house to playing with it or to even
bringing it outside with the bird Marcus
the more effort you put into it the more
the more happy that you and your bird
can be now it is definitely possible to
change the way that we care for birds
and there are people doing this today
one person is Chris Bureau who’s the
founder and president of the nonprofit
bird recovery international now he is
leading in the scientific movement of
free flying birds and raising captive
baby birds to be able to survive in the
wild his organization has classes to
teach free flying and they are working
on conservation efforts worldwide so I
got some help and got into contact with
him and we had a conversation about what
he’s doing so he told me that this all
started when one of his birds kept on
escaping from an aviary but he noticed
that it would always come back so he
applied this to free flying birds
because he knew that they knew how to
come back from realize that if he taught
baby birds how to survive in the wild
from a young age and how to free fly
then he could replenish wild populations
by breeding birds one limiting factor to
this is actually the government
regulation on birds he told me that a
lot of a lot of his recon servation
efforts have been hindered because of
government regulation of owning Indian
your birds oftentimes they’re not you’re
not able to trade them so he could not
repopulate these populations and many of
these verses will continue to go extinct
because of this so ironically the
problem of going birds going extinct in
the wild is continuing due to legal and
illegal practices
now he finished her conversation by
showing us some of the birds that he
owns so here is a son parakeet family in
their home for travelling and here is
Gena
who can sing a beautiful rendition of
Old MacDonald now if you’re not ready to
own Gena that’s okay just know you we
can also enjoy birds outdoors and in the
wilds last thing I want to say is to
spread this information let other people
know about the issues so that together
we can stop it and change our ways the
more people working against the illegal
bird trade the more likely it is to be
abolished
so that birds can continue to represent
freedom thank you
[Applause]
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