The Oasis Sanctuary

posted by Sybil on Apr 25

Dear Friends of the Birds and of The Oasis Sanctuary—

I learned yesterday that HR 669 was killed in committee.

This is due to the (literally) tens of thousands of letters, emails and phone calls which poured in from caregivers of exotic companion animals around the country. To those in the Avian Community who called or wrote…your birds are thanking you.

My final words on the subject….and I know many will continue to disagree…..This is fine. We still are in the USA.

I had very mixed feelings about the bill. Although there were important issues addressed, the problems, as I see them, were that the decision making was left up to bureaucrats, who, based on my rather intense experience with the Federal government (USFW in particular) generally interpret regulations and legislation in the tightest and most conservative manner.

The thought of intelligent and sentient beings in particular for this conversation, parrots with a life expectancy of 60-80 years, not being able to go to new homes if their caregivers could not longer care for them, or not being able to cross lines should their caregiver have to move, would potentially put millions of parrots at risk of destruction.

Although I am against breeding of any animals until ALL animals have a life-long home…and I do not believe that parrots or other birds who should be flying aught to be relegated to cages in our living rooms and treated like objects or even little humans….I also believe in the sanctity of life and our obligation to care take all existing captive and or domestic animals appropriately throughout their lifetimes.

Many of the objectives outlined (as I understood it) in HR 669 are already covered by CITES regulations visa vi importation etc. Yet another layer of bureaucracy will not stop smuggling and in my opinion would have only created an illegal underground of exotic trading and breeding. Look at dog-fighting and cock-fighting as an example….

To sum up, it is my opinion that HR 669 was a potentially dangerous intrusion of government into an area which needs enlightenment rather than laws.

Sybil