OT - Bird Seizure part 1

[glencorgi]

While not dog or corgi related, a good example of the threat we are facing in pet ownership.

Debbie

Forwarded with permission;

Thu Dec 28, 2006 9:14 pm (PST)

Cross Posting Encouraged

The SPCA and Pinellas County Florida
Jean Pattison-December 2006
I sat down last night about dusk,
wanting to write this article and
didn’t know where to start, or if it
would even be read, or do any good.

All of a sudden I heard one of my small
Poicephalus screaming wildly. I
knew something was horribly wrong. I ran
out to find a hawk flat against
the side of one of my flight cages with
a mirror image of a little
red-bellied flattened against the inside
of the cage wall. The wire on
the cages is only ?" x 1" wire, and
there is only six inches of space
between the cages. Somehow the hawk
squeezed between the cages and
partition and was able to grab my little
male red-bellied. I quickly
scared off the hawk and grabbed my
little red-bellied out of his flight
cage. I saw no blood anywhere and he
only favored one leg a bit, so I
think he will be okay, just a bit
scared……………well a lot scared. He is
now in a holding cage in the house under
my watchful eye.
I came back to the computer with tears
streaming down my cheeks,
thinking
to myself, is this all really worth it?
There are so many things we breeders
have to worry about. Birds
becoming ill, working many hours a day
cleaning cages and feeding the
flock, the public perception that we are
factory farms, when in reality
we are lucky to have our birds breeding
and healthy. We don’t take
vacations with our loved ones, since we
can’t find good help to take care
of our flock while gone. We worry about
theft, and never leave the
premises at night. Since working on the
Florida theft committee with
Jan Schottenloher and Linda Meade for
three years, there is much I
learned, and learned what to be afraid
of.
If we didn’t love our birds so much, I
am sure a lot of breeders would
just throw in the towel.
Thieves know what they are doing. For
many years now, I do not go to
bed until 2 or 3 a.m. and then my
husband gets up and patrols the
property until daylight. We did once
have 2 men climbing over our back
fence with burlap bags, to steal some of
our birds. So the vigilance
does payoff.
When I retrieved my little red-bellied
from the clutches of the hawk, I
was angry, very angry.
So much we go through. We are judged by
every group of animal people
there are, starting with rescue
organizations, pet people, bird behavior
consultants, anti-breeding groups, pet
“over population� groups - and
then there was the ordeal of September
10th, 2006. A lot of
professional breeders and aviculturists
have just gone through this
ordeal together, and this is the reason
for my article.
The ordeal I refer to was an injustice
perpetrated by a new kind of
“thieves� - “thieves� who do their dirty
work under color of “legal
authority� - “thieves� who operate using
the “letter of the law� against
innocent and law abiding animal breeders
- “thieves� who can steal our
animals from us when we are doing
nothing wrong. Those “thieves� are
those officers employed as law
enforcement officers and animal shelter
personnel who believe in the “animal
rights� philosophy and religion -
people who do not believe that we should
breed animals to be sold as
pets. President Bush calls religious
fundamentalist terrorists “evil
doers�. We now have to deal with another
kind of fundamentalist
terrorist “evil doer� - the “animal
rights evil doers� who take our
animals from us because their “animal
rights� religion tells them they
should, by whatever means available.
Early in the morning of September 10th,
while a breeder was at a bird
expo for the weekend, a group of
terrorist evil-doers entered her home
and proceeded to remove approximately 35
pairs of her breeding
cockatiels, mostly show cockatiels, as
well as a few other species and
her pet birds. The total birds removed
were at about 100. Cage trays
were removed and dumped on the floor;
cages were turned on their sides,
with nest boxes containing newly hatched
chicks and fertile eggs. The
cages were then shoved into waiting
vans. Naturally the chicks were
smothered and died, and eggs addled and
embryos killed. The terrorist
evil doers claimed that they had been
told they could move breeding pairs
without harming or upsetting the birds.
Wonder what expert told them
that? The evil-doers removed all the
animals on the property, and took
them to a warehouse to conceal their
loot.
Just a bit over three months passed and
the birds were retrieved from the
holding facility by their owner on
September 16. Many of the birds
were thinner than when they were taken.
Many were very plucked and
tattered from being overcrowded. Some of
the birds were even in too
small of cages for the species, as well
as not being as clean as they
should have been. Birds, including
breeder birds, had their bands
removed while in the custody of the evil
doers. While working the theft
committee for three years, this is the
same scenario we saw over and over
again.
The terrorist evil-doers in this story?
The SPCA of Pinellas County
Florida! And to make matters worse, the
animal removal was all done
under the supervision of the local
sheriffs department.
As the story unfolds, a disgruntled
neighbor called the sheriff about
barking dogs. The sheriff entered the
house through a back door that
she claimed was left open, and found the
birds, in what was in her
“opinion� an abusive situation. The bird
that started it all was sun
conure with a plucked chest that the
breeder had just gotten from a
friend that was retiring. The sheriff
concluded that this bird must be
abused! The sheriff didn’t know to take
into account the very visible
fat chest, and perky attitude of the
bird. Animal Control was then
called in and refused to take the
animals, seeing no violations. The
undeterred sheriff then called the SPCA,
who will gladly confiscate any
animals. This is great publicity and
sympathy always brings in money.
This particular SPCA has on their
website, if called anonymously they
will hold your name in confidence, and
………“SPCA Humane Officers
will
follow up on your information. Every
attempt is made to improve the
animal's situation through owner
education and persuasion. When this does
not lead to positive results, the SPCA
works closely with city and county
law enforcement officers to correct the
situation.�

http://www.spcafl.org/site/PageServe...cruelty_invest

(The pictures on the web pages are not
of this breeder’s birds. These are
from a more recent case.)
In our case, the owner’s friend arrived
at the owner’s home, as requested
by the ower, to check up on the birds
and newly hatched babies as well as
check their food and water. The friend
was arrested for animal cruelty.
The owner was called and said she would
return home immediately. The
police and the SPCA told her they would
not wait, and took all the
animals. I assume they don’t read their
own web page. Once the
breeder’s friend arrived one would have
thought since there was a
caretaker on premises, the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) could have been called.
We Florida breeders are
licensed and governed by the FWC, which
regularly inspects bird
breeders.
If there are violations they issue a
warning and return to reinspect
the facility to verify that the
violations have been corrected. In
extreme cases they will confiscate.
Thanks only to Fred Smith, the regional
director of the American
Federation of Aviculture (AFA), in has
tenacity to get to the bottom of
this, were the breeders in Florida made
aware of this injustice. The
regional director, Fred Smith, wanted to
know if one of our AFA members
was really as bad as the news media
portrayed, and investigate the
accused member. Fred Smith went to the
SPCA to see what the
conditions
of the birds were.
Upon arriving at the SPCA and seeing the
birds, Fred was shocked at
how
well the birds looked, and none were in
any type of abused or neglected
condition. Fred, like the rest of the
public, had read the newspaper
accounts and had seen the TV news
stories about how abused and
neglected
the birds were and that they were in
horrible condition. Fred, along
with attending every bird expo in
Florida educating people about the care
of birds and promoting the AFA, tending
his own flock of breeding birds,
and fulfilling his regional director
duties, spent the time uncovering
facts and investigating the
circumstances around this confiscation.
Once Fred was satisfied with the
breeder's care of her birds, we were all
made aware of the case. Fred spent
countless hours on the phone, and
one call was made to the Florida
Federation of Aviculture Inc. (FFAI).
The FFAI, working with the AFA, was
brought up to speed and
immediately
started their own investigation, and
held an emergency meeting.
Notices were put out by Fred and other
FFAI members with the date of
the
first court hearing. The SPCA was filing
a petition for ownership not
only of the confiscated birds, but also
for any other birds owned
elsewhere by the breeder, and her
friend. They petitioned for fines and
jail time to be imposed on the breeder
and her friend, and they asked the
court to order that the owner and her
friend were to never own birds
again. They also asked for a court order
that the breeder pay all
boarding fees and other costs incurred
by the SPCA. The fees and costs
to date are approximately $13,000.00.

[glencorgi]

During all this time, there was an
ongoing criminal investigation, so no
information was, or could be, given out
to the public or to the news
media. In many animal confiscation
cases, the criminal charges against
the animal owner are dropped as soon as
the confiscating party is granted
permanent possession of the animals.
This is a pressure tactic and a
ploy used by the prosecution to keep the
truth and any evidence from
being obtained by the animal owner or by
the media while the confiscating
party pursues their confiscation case.
This case followed that modus
operandi. In this case, the breeder won
her birds back in court, and
all criminal charges have now been
dropped against the breeder and her
friend. In this case the owner of the
birds fought back, and won her
birds back, against seemingly
overwhelming odds that she would not be
able to successfully fight the powerful
and arrogant SPCA.
The hearings spanned three months and
were grueling. The first court
hearing was attended by approximately 20
aviculturists. It was very
obvious to all the aviculturists and
professional breeders in the
courtroom that the SPCA personnel and
lawyers knew virtually nothing
about birds, or breeding birds, or their
anatomy or diseases, or their
proper maintenance. The entire SPCA team
(including the sheriff’s
officer who first arrived on the scene,
all of the testifying SPCA
personnel, their testifying
veterinarians, and their attorneys) were in
way over their heads. Some of the
testimony presented by SPCA
witnesses
regarding the care the SPCA was giving
to the birds made it clear that
the SPCA did not know how to care for
any bird, much less care for a
flock of breeding birds. They used
bleach in their cleaning solution to
clean the birds’ area, resulting in
damage to the birds’ respiratory
systems. They fed the birds incorrectly,
resulting in some of the birds
developing diarrhea. They incorrectly
assumed that vials of polyoma
vaccine found at the breeders home were
medications for diseased birds,
and they demonstrated that they knew
virtually nothing about bird
diseases or treatment for bird diseases.
The vet for the SPCA was a dog
and cat vet with an interest in birds,
but she is at least ten years
behind the times in the evolution
regarding avian medicine and care.
As the prosecution continued to put on
their case they were oblivious to
the fact that most of their witnesses’
statements were idiotic and that
their evidence simply served to
demonstrate their ignorance about birds
and bird care. It became clear that the
SPCA was accustomed to winning
animal confiscation cases based on
unfounded allegations and with hardly
any effort.
We were not intimidated. Of course, we
realized that this biased,
unbalanced, and inaccurate information
that was being presented to the
judge by those who knew practically
nothing about birds was all the judge
was hearing, and we realized that if we
expected to prevail we needed an
expert who knew about birds to testify -
otherwise the case was going to
be a “slam dunk� for the prosecution. We
needed an avian specialist.
Jan and I called veterinarians all over
the state. Other members were
working with their vets trying to get
them on board. We were told that
no vets could afford the time off from
their practices to testify on the
breeder’s behalf. Many told us to walk
away and let them have the birds
- we were told “you can’t win against
the SPCA�. The cost of defense
was going into the thousands of dollars
for this breeder, and all for a
bunch of cockatiels, even though they
were being bred for show and
careful genetic blood lines. The cost
was way over what the birds were
worth. This breeder could not afford to
bring in an avian vet, that’s
all there was to it.
Despite all the nay-sayers, and all the
cautions that we could never win
against the SPCA, we were not willing to
abandon the breeder or our
cause. Individual members of the Florida
Federation of Aviculture
started donating money for a vet. Two
bird clubs in Florida, the
Imperial Bird Club, and the Jacksonville
Bird Club both donated $500.00
each for vet costs. To them I am
eternally grateful. Some clubs and
organizations refused to get involved,
for fear of the SPCA or some other
organization making them targets for
harassment. This is another fear
we breeders are now faced with. If we
help, will we suffer too?
Many aviculturists attended all four
hearings. Dr. Margaret Wissman, a
board certified avian veterinarian,
agreed to be a witness for the
defendant and testified at the last
hearing. It is my belief that her
testimony made it clear to the judge
that the allegations which the SPCA
had made about disease and perceived
cruelty and neglect were not a
truthful picture of the situation - Dr.
Wissman made it clear to the
judge that the breeder was not cruel or
abusive or neglectful - and that
her testimony is what turned the case in
the breeder’s favor. It took
the judge almost two weeks to reach a
decision. The petition from the
SPCA was denied in its entirety - the
SPCA lost on every count. The
judge ordered the SPCA to return all of
the birds and other animals to
their owner.
Existing law in Florida can be, and is,
used to harm breeders and animal
owners. We have a statute in Florida
that gives any law enforcement
officer the right to call any recognized
agency (such as the SPCA, animal
control, Humane Society, and even some
rescues) to immediately
confiscate
animals, without a warrant and without a
hearing, if they in their
opinion, feel there is any animal
neglect or cruelty. They do not have
to call FWC, the only organization that
has training in exotic animals
here in Florida. This law creates a very
serious situation for all of
us - a situation that gives us all
something new to fear. All of us
who own birds and other animals now have
to recognize that “public
perception� may be the standard used to
judge us when allegations of
animal abuse and neglect are made
against us by law enforcement or
“animal welfare� personnel. “Public
perception� may or may not be
accurate or truthful, but it will be
used by law enforcement and “animal
welfare� personnel to make judgments in
an area in which they have no
training or expertise. “Public
perception�, when it is not based on
fact, can wreak havoc on any enterprise,
especially in the area of
breeding birds.
We also must remember that most of the
“animal welfare� organizations
that claim to have the best interest of
the animals first and foremost,
are against breeding animals of any
kind. Many of them support the
philosophy of “animal rights�, which
contends that animals are not ours
to use. They especially do not believe
in breeding animals to be sold
as pets. Many of them do not believe
that we have the right to own or
use animals of any kind for food, for
fiber, for research, for
entertainment, or as pets. Those same
organizations, who have been
given the power under existing law to
allege animal abuse by their
owners, and who have been given the
power to confiscate animals from
their owners without a warrant and
without a hearing, are fundamentally
and philosophically biased against
breeders. Existing law allows these
organizations to be our accusers, our
judges, and our executioners, and
they revel in that power - they are the
poster children for the saying
“Power Corrupts - And Absolute Power
Corrupts Absolutely�. They have
an
absolute conflict of interest when it
comes to any case involving
breeders, and they should not be allowed
to participate in any
confiscation cases - yet the law allows
them to freely operate and freely
confiscate despite this clear conflict
of interest. Of course these
organizations will confiscate, at the
mere hint of a dirty water bowl or
recently spilled food. Many of these
people see problems where none
exist, or knowingly create them - as was
done in this case. The
sheriff’s officer ordered the barking
dogs (who had been found loose in
the yard) to be tied up next to a dirty
water bowl, then had photographs
taken of the situation as “evidence� of
their “abuse� by their owner.
So now, not only are we afraid to leave
our birds at night, we cannot
leave during the day either. In the
event my dog would escape the yard
and caused a car accident, a sheriff
would come out to my property and
up
to my door. As he walked along the
pathway, he may see a bowl full of
water (changed an hour ago) just full of
mushy pellets, and smelling
like, well you all know what it smells
like. He may see a bird in a
small cage that is being medicated, or
under veterinary care. What
would his perception be, and would he
call the SPCA or humane society,
or
even a rescue organization? When I would
arrive back home from
shopping
for veggies and other good bird food,
would my birds all be there, or
would they have been taken to some
secret place where I could not see,
or
find out about them?
Thank you AFA for Fred Smith. Thank you
FFAI for your work in this
and
thank you, Imperial Bird Club and
Jacksonville Bird club, for your
monetary support in this effort. Thank
you Dr. Wissman for your support
of aviculture. We could not have done it
without you.
Many people behind the scenes worked
tirelessly on this case, and studied
the FWC regulations as well as county
and state statutes. I am very
grateful to all that pitched in and did
work and made donations in the
name of aviculture. Many people from out
of state gave their support
and donations as well, and I thank all
of you too.
After this experience, and seeing the
support of the avicultural
community, I know that yes, it is all
worth it.