baby pheasants

[chika]

oh my god. in my class ( science ) we have 2 turtles, a snake and our latest addition *drumroll* baby pheasants! they are so cute! we will have them until the end of the school year.and i have to say they are fast growers. we had to w a i t a long time for them to hatch( may 1st - may 23rd?) and they are the cutest things ever
we have had them for about 5 days and they've started growing their primaries already. they are the cutest fluff balls ever ( also they keep falling over each other when they all tried to sleep yesterday it was so funnydorable ( funny and adorable.)

[Pajarita]

Hmmm, I have to admit that I am not a fan of using live animals as teaching tools... do you know where they will go after they are grown?

[chika]

basically we arent using them as teaching tools. no one is going to touch them they have their own little corner ( though you cant forget about them because their peeping is loud)we are going to let them go into the wild. my teacher will give them to this other teacher who, when the birds are ready, will let them go into the wild. but they are adorable.

[chika]

( that teacher will let them go where they naturally live)

[Pajarita]

Well, that's terribly ignorant of your teacher! Birds that are raised by humans lose their fear of them and don't last in the wild so releasing them to it is a death sentence to them!

[liz]

Maybe she lives on a farm and will be able to keep them fed until they learn to feed themselves.

[Blu]

Doing this with pheasants is pretty common around me. It is meant to kinda stock the area for hunting. They do just fine once they are released. I have seen female pheasants with babies often. I intend to train my bird once I get my falconry license to take pheasants.

[liz]

Yuk. So the fuzzy little things you raised are going to be food.

A neighbor in WV raised pheasants and released them. I guess it was too many at a time. Most of them found their way to the road and were killed there. It was awful.

[Pajarita]

No, Blu, they don't 'do just fine'. Predators get a lot of them because they simply never learned how to spot or avoid them and whatever is left is killed by hunters -they just do not make it, my dear. There are many (and I do mean MANY) animals that are bred in captivity and released into the wild but, in truth, they are not released so they can live a long and fruitful life in the wild, it's done to 'stock' the woods for hunters. See these: http://animalrights.about.com/od/wildli ... asants.htm

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.p ... ber=216098

And look at the comments from pheasant hunters about the differences between a 'pen-raised' and a wild pheasant! Basically, they are weak birds that can't run fast or fly high enough and very easy to kill: http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtop ... 63&start=0

[Blu]

Well pajarita I have seen many released pheasants grow up to breed and survive for quite awhile. I have seen the same pheasant near by that was released by a farmer down the road for a few years now. I don't really think you are giving animals enough credit. They may not be as adept at surviving like a wild pheasant but at some point instincts have to take over. If they didn't we wouldn't have problems with pythons in the everglades or other invasive species. Some may die but that is they way life is. Out of 100 red tail hawks only 5 are likely to make it past age five. I hardly ever saw pheasants but after that farmer released them I see fully grown breeding adults quite often.