Poached IRNs in India

[Pajarita]

This is an article about the 'rampant' selling of illegally poached baby IRN's in India where it's not only illegal to sell or buy them but also illegal to cage any bird. Just as a note, the price in rupees they mention is equivalent to $5.25 to $7 each...

http://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/off ... -1.1282953

[Bird woman]

WOW, that's very messed up ! I find it interesting that it is illegal to cage parrots. Do you know there reasoning behind it ? Are they sacred to there religion or did they just get smarter quicker than the rest of the world about caging anything? What are these people buying them for anyway if your not suppose to be caging them. There hasn't been a huge amount of them confiscated , and I would think if they were doing it for export they would be getting a much larger amount of birds when they bust them. BW

[Pajarita]

As I understand it, the reasoning for the law is simply compassion and understanding that birds were not meant to live in cages http://pets.indiatimes.com/articleshow. ... =669079351). But people still buy them and still cage them, of course - and they don't even use large cages, either... Unfortunately for the birds, the fad of keeping parrots as pets and training them has hit Asia and Africa pretty hard and the greatest majority of the birds that end up as pets there are poached from the wild.

I don't think the women who were selling them were part of any illegal poaching operation that ships them outside the country, I think they were just selling them to whoever happened on the road.

[liz]

Though it is done often, it is illegal to keep and cage any critter from the wild. I have taken in some wild things and kept them long enough to make sure they can survive when released. I have had some experience in it since I was a volunteer at the zoo.

[Bird woman]

I two have much experience working with wildlife, as a very young girl a wildlife rehab center and museum was built behind my house and of course I was there every day watching. The curators took an intrest in me and from 5 - 12 when we moved away I helped rehab animals that were brought in from all over , injured or orphaned . They figured out pretty quick I had a real bond with animals. I was able to take skunks , opossums , raccoons , birds and others home to nurse them back to health. It was probably the most meaningful and rewarding time of my life. Life sucked after my parents got a divorce and everything changed.but I'm sure the vast majority of you have experienced this to. But all life's experiences good and bad shape who we become in the future . BW