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Here is a very amusing article about a Parrot who fools authorities into thinking a murder was happening!  This article can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Southwest/08/29/offbeat.parrot.ap/index.html.  This article has also been posted on Angel's BBS.

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Parrot screams fool authorities
Friday, August 29, 2003 Posted: 10:49 AM EDT (1449 GMT)

 
TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A parrot's parody of a damsel in distress caused quite a commotion.

Tucson police and firefighters broke down a door after being called to a house and hearing a woman's screams coming from inside.

But police soon realized that the sounds weren't coming from a woman in woe.

"The parrot's screams sounded identical to those of a distressed adult female," Officer Andrew Davies said in his report.

The ruckus was the work of Oscar, a 2-year-old yellow-naped Amazon parrot.

Police found him intermittently making laughing and screaming sounds as he sat inside his large white cage.

The mix-up began on Saturday when a 911-hang up call was made from the house.

Police arrived to find the house locked with bars on the windows.

Hearing what they thought was a woman's voice, police called the fire department. Crews used a pry bar and a battering ram to get through a door.

Police asked a neighbor to call Dana Pannell, the homeowner. The neighbor said he was home at the time but didn't make the emergency call.

Although the dialer remains a mystery, the parrot is seemingly off the hook.

Pannell's wife, Judy, said Oscar doesn't know how to use a phone.

But Oscar -- named after the Sesame Street character because of his sometimes foul moods -- does have his talents, she said.

"He sings in Spanish," she said.

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Here is a recent news Article on the west Nile Virus.  I have posted this on Angel's BBS.  Any comments about this article or any others please post your comments on the BBS.

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This Message was posted on my Yahoo! Club by KIM:
 
  August 28, 2003
 
  West Nile Vaccine Prevents Bird Deaths
  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
  
  Filed at 1:36 p.m. ET
 
  ATLANTA (AP) -- The first study of a new West Nile virus vaccine for birds showed that an injected version prevented deaths, federal health officials said Thursday.
 
  An oral version, however, was not as effective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
 
  Although it would be impossible to capture and inject millions of birds to prevent the spread of the virus, an effective vaccine could be used to protect threatened and endangered species. An oral vaccine would be better because it could be given to many more birds by spreading it with bait.
 
  Four years after the virus first appeared in the Western Hemisphere, little is still known about West Nile. Health officials say the bird-vaccine study will add to existing knowledge and efforts to develop a human vaccine.
 
  Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said human clinical trials of a vaccine under development are expected to begin at the end of the year.
 
  The bird vaccine, if approved by the USDA, could be used in zoos or to protect small populations in the wild.
 
  ``There are collections of valuable birds out there that need to be protected,'' said Nicholas Komar of the CDC's arbovirus diseases branch. ``This vaccine may be the way to do it.''
 
  Vaccines are generally made by using live or dead viruses. The new vaccine uses a third technique: It is made from pieces of virus DNA called plasmids that allow a bird's immune system to develop antibodies to detect and neutralize West Nile. An existing horse vaccine that is also used on birds is from a dead form of the virus.
 
  The virus is estimated to have killed millions of birds -- including some in rare and endangered zoo collections -- since it first appeared in the Western Hemisphere.
 
  Researchers gave nine fish crows the vaccine in shot form, eight crows in oral form and 20 crows received a placebo. Each group then was exposed to the virus. None of the crows that received the shot died; half the crows in the placebo and oral vaccine groups died.
 
  A larger test, soon to be published by CDC officials, also confirmed that American crows -- which are very susceptible to West Nile -- had ``significantly improved'' death rates with the vaccine shot.
 
  The DNA vaccine -- developed in the CDC's Fort Collins, Colo., labs -- does not prevent birds from carrying high levels of the virus. Mosquitoes transmit the virus to humans, horses or other animals after they bite infected birds, the virus' host reservoir. Lower levels of the virus would keep mosquitoes from spreading it.
 
  ``We've decreased the mortality rates and have decreased (virus levels) but not significantly enough to where it stops infecting mosquitoes,'' said Dr. Mike Bunning of the CDC.
 
  If quickly approved by the USDA, the DNA vaccine could be available commercially within a year, Bunning said. In March, the DNA vaccine was used on 196 California condors -- the only ones that remain in the world.
 
  ``I think that (a vaccine) is really critical ... because for one thing if you're working with endangered species such as California condors ... you can't afford to lose any of them,'' said Judy Scherpelz, director of the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, a Fort Collins nonprofit that rehabilitates ill and injured birds of prey.
 
 On the Net: www.cdc.gov/eid

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An article I found about Animal rights in Japan.   Just goes to show what really goes on in other countries and how some ordinary pets are kept as criminals.

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Japan

Japan's illegal immigrants, of the furred variety

TOKYO - Busy lifestyles and cramped apartments make it difficult for most Japanese to keep ordinary pets, prompting many to go for smaller, quieter animals to keep them company.

But often, this penchant for exotic animals fuels the importation of wild animals and banned creatures, ranging from tortoises to threatened orangutans. Worse, many owners soon tire of the novelty or are unable to care for them, and eventually abandon the animals.

Japan has experienced a boom in the exotic pet business, whose value has risen 30 percent to $7.8 billion, from five years ago. In some cases, collectors pay huge amounts to get hold of strange animals, such as a businessman who bought a giant stag beetle for 95,240 US dollars in August this year.

Recognizing the problems that this interest in exotic pets bring about, the Japanese Parliament or Diet passed on December 9 the first major amendment to its animal protection law in 26 years, one which enforces harsher penalties for abusers of animals.

Fusako Nogami, head of the non- governmental organization Alive, lauded the legislation that amends the Protection and Keeping of Animals Law, especially the inclusion in its scope of wild animals, a species that are been increasingly bought as exotic pets in Japan. ''The new law marks a major landmark in our battle to make Japan a safer place for animals. But there is still a long way to go before animal rights are respected,'' said Nogami.

Nogami explained that a major disappointment has been the absence of a law, already enacted in most western countries, that enables the government to withdraw the operating licenses of pet shops or breeders caught abusing animals: ''this is an absolute must if cruelty to animals is to be stopped, for the punishment would be devastating to businesses.''

The amendments to the law increase penalties from the old rate of 30,000 yen ($285) to 300,000 yen ($2,857) for abusing or abandoning pets. People injuring their animals could face up to one year's imprisonment and a one million yen ($9,523) penalty.

Statistics released by Alive reveal that Japan is the world's biggest market for wild birds, and rare breeds of tortoises protected under the Convention XX International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The bigest suppliers are countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America. In 1996, the Japanese market for illegal importation of tortoises captured 55 percent of the total world figure, and 42 percent that of the total for wild birds. But even this figure may not give a complete picture, because they only represent animals that have been caught or their shipments apprehended, said Hisako Kiyono of the World Wildlife Fund, Japan. The actual number could be double, or even more, she points out.

The reptile market, including beautiful snakes and iguanas, is also growing in Japan. According to reports from pet shops, around 80,000 people own similar creatures, with some of rarer species selling for 300,000 yen each.

The Indonesian embassy also reported recently that four orangutans smuggled into the country in December last year will soon be returned to their home, in the jungles of Kalimantan in eastern Indonesia. The animals were bought by a pet owner who has been arrested on suspicion of violating the species preservation law.

Activists point out that another reason behind the government's enactment of stricter laws on animal ownership and the pet industry is an outbreak of diseases carried by non- native animals, as well as threats to Japan's natural species that such imports may pose.

In November, the Health and Welfare Ministry recommended a total ban on monkeys from Africa to avoid the Ebola virus and said it will restrict the number coming in from Asian countries to avoid other infections. Japan imports monkeys mostly for laboratory tests, with the rest sold as pets. China, the Philippines and Vietnam are the biggest exporters of the animals.

Likewise, the fate of abandoned exotic animals has stoked discussion. In September, the government debated a series of cases that involved people abandoning reptiles that they had owned as pets.

The Environment Agency has also found that imported animals may pose a threat to Japan's ecosystem. The black bass, from North America, is reported to have inundated parts of Japanese rivers, making up 99 percent of the fish population in some areas, researchers say.

Activists say the recent amendments to the law are not only about animal rights, but are closely linked to larger issues such as the preservation of the ecosystem and Japan's contribution to efforts to protect biodiversity in countries where some of the exotic animals come from.

''Taking orangutans out of Indonesian forests, for example, is not only against the rights of animals but also upsets the natural forest management systems, which is an added cause for banning these imports altogether,'' explained Nogami.

Still, activists concede that this task will not be easy because of low awareness among the Japanese of these issues, and because companies, such as those in the pet industry, usually put business before animal rights or conservation concerns.

(Inter Press Service)
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Recent News about a bird flu that killed someone in Amsterdam: *This is located here: http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/19/dutch.birdflu/index.html*

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Bird flu link to Dutch vet death

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- A Dutch veterinarian has died of pneumonia after being infected with a bird flu virus, the Dutch Health Ministry said on Saturday.

A ministry statement said it was unclear whether the virus had undergone a mutation of the kind that was thought to have created the deadly SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus.

"Because the bird flu virus was detected in the lungs and there is no other possible explanation for the clinical picture, there is a strong indication that the man died due to the consequences of the bird flu virus," the statement said.

The 57-year-old veterinarian, who died Thursday in the southern city of Den Bosch, became ill two days after working on a farm that had been infected with bird flu, or avian virus.

Bird flu has already infected a handful of farm workers, but until now it had only caused minor eye infections that were relatively harmless and easily treated.

Dutch authorities, however, have struggled to contain the month-long outbreak that has spilled into Belgium and is nearing the German border.

They imposed controls last week on the transport of pigs because of fears that a few animals found to be carrying the virus might create a devastating disease like SARS. The Dutch Agriculture Ministry said Thursday there was a danger that a mutated version of the virus could spark a flu epidemic in humans.

SARS, which has killed 182 people and infected nearly 3,500 around the world, is thought to have been the result of human and avian viruses mixing in Guangdong, China, where people live close to animals.

Dutch authorities have slaughtered around 15 million of the 100 million poultry in the country to fight the outbreak of bird flu. The Netherlands is the biggest poultry exporter in the European Union.

German authorities have ordered farmers to report any reduction in poultry flocks performance and banned pigeon racing.

But French, British, Portuguese and Spanish authorities were less concerned, despite worries that migrating wild birds could spread the disease. The chief form of transmission, however, is consumption of infected materials or feces.
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This is a very important Press Release I found on the net.  It's very sad, and I thought it should be posted.
*The release was posted on this site: http://www.funnyfarmexotics.com/IAS/theft3_98.htm*

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PRESS RELEASE

March 26, 1998

FLORIDA BIRD THEFTS

By Linda Meade & Jean Pattison

On Tuesday, March 10, sometime in the wee hours of the morning, thieves crept silently up to the Life Fellowship Bird Sanctuary. They cut through chain-link fences to gain access to the aviary yard. Within a few short hours they managed to wipe out a lifetime of research and dedication to the almost extinct Cuban Amazon. Ramon Noegel, a world renowned aviculturist, was devastated with this loss, not only had the thieves disrupted a 35 year genetic research study of the Cuban Amazon, they had also stolen his beloved pet, a 44 year old Panama Amazon. The scariest part of this is that no one heard a thing, even though there were 5 large guard dogs patrolling the property. The cage fronts were cut open like a door to gain access to the birds. Why didn’t anyone hear the birds’ frantic screams as they were cornered in the cage and bagged? Perhaps because they were gassed or sedated, maybe that is why the ferocious dogs did not growl or attack the thieves.

During the last six months there has been at least eight major bird thefts in the Gulf Coast and Central Florida area, the latest occurring just nine days after the Life Fellowship theft. John and Mary Geip’s Raintree Forest Aviaries was the most recent victim of the bird theft ring. The scenario was the same, cut through fences, an attack dog that did not make a sound and amazon parrots that did not protest when ripped from their cut cages. It has not been proven that the animals are gassed or sedated, but what other explanation is there?

September 24, 1997, Wayne Davis of Tampa, Florida had 30 birds stolen in the middle of the night during a rainstorm. Two days later, Lillian Kondracki’s aviary was broken into during the early hours of the morning and 10 birds were taken; they again robbed her place in October and November. December 2, 1997, again during a rainstorm, the thieves pulled their truck up to the back property fence of Bill and Louise Mooty, they cut through the chainlink fence, shot out the security lights, cut off doors to cages and stole away with 48 birds, ranging from Hyacinth Macaws to a lone Jardine’s parrot. Their lifelong collection of birds, their "retirement income" was wiped out. The thieves then took a Christmas break because they did not surface again until January 28, 1998. This time they stole away with breeder birds from Edna Barrows of Plant City. The income from the babies these birds produced paid the Barrows mortgage payments, now they are without their second income and no way to replace their stock. Just days later on February 2, 1998, Ross Griffith’s aviary was broken into, same M.O., cut fences, cut cages, dog didn’t bark, birds didn’t make noise. Ross doesn’t have the heart to set up again, he will no longer breed birds. The Bird Shop, a pet shop in Longwood, Florida was broken into on February 22, 1998, 51 birds, along with carriers, were stolen.

These are not the only thefts, for the past two to three years, south Florida has been hit with a string of similar bird thefts, ranging from just a couple birds to large collections being wiped out in a single night. They have even backed up trucks and slide the entire breeding cages onto the trucks.

One aviculturist, found himself dazed as his mind whirled with the unrealness of what he was seeing as he walked into his aviary. His mind fought to grasp anything that made some kind of sense. Strewn all over the floor were parrot chicks, some thrashing and dying, others trampled, and some dead from the shear cold. The images in his mind started to focus as nest boxes with lids ajar came into view. Suddenly reality hit, all too hard. Thieves had come in the night and ripped parent birds from their nests. Along with the parents came the babies that fell to their deaths. The babies were meaningless to the thieves, it was the producers they were after. As if stealing weren't bad enough, the cruelty went beyond imagination.

Another thief had thrown a pillowcase to the side of the road, a pillowcase that cried. Upon opening the pillowcase a female grey with her wing severely injured had been left for dead, but worse still, her mate who had been a hand raised chick, now ten years old, was already dead.

Shortly after another robbery, a flight cage of drowned African greys was found dumped in a lake. One can only imagine the cries of terror that filled the thieves’ vehicle. Cries that surely rose to a deafening pitch, and would be heard by anyone remotely close by. Rather than risk discovery, it was safer to ditch the bounty in the nearest lake.

The real tragedy of these thefts is the abuse our feathered friends are being put through, ripped from their safe cages, where they are feed and protected, and thrust into the night, slung around like a sack of potatoes. They are scared to death, and probably only about 60% will live to see another home. The bird community is sitting on edge, aviculturists are not sleeping through the night, (But when did we ever?). I hear from everyone that they are sleeping in shifts, patrolling their property at night, waking at the slightest sound, or waking from frantic dreams of chasing birds thieves.

In most of these cases the birds have never been recovered, which leads us to believe that they are being shipped to other states, or most likely, out of the country. U.S. Fish and Wildlife has begun to take an interest in these thefts and most recently, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is reviewing the cases in conjunction with the Bird Theft Committee, set up by the Florida Federation of Aviculture, Inc. During the last eight robberies alone, 232 birds have been stolen, valued at approximately $312,450.00.

If you have any information concerning the robberies, please contact the Florida Federation of Aviculture, Inc., Bird Theft Committee at 813-677-5200 or email at JnLAviary@aol.com

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Here is an article about the Exotic Newscastle disease going around in some places.  I would probably just die if anything like this happened to Angel.  I would put up the bravest fight I could against people like this!  No one would do this to my bird!  I got this off a message board recently and I thought it should be posted.  This is very sad, please read:

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Article from L.A. Times
April 12, 2003

CALIFORNIA
Disease Task Force Eyeing Pet Birds
Authorities are going door-to-door searching for parrots and poultry alike. If the avians appear sick, they are killed on the spot.

By Tina Daunt and Bob Pool, Times Staff Writers

State and federal agents trying to control the spread of a deadly avian disease have killed 3.4 million birds in Southern California -- some of them household parrots and parakeets -- and have enlisted hundreds of investigators, mail carriers and talkative neighbors to help identify homes with birds.

Officials with the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force say they must take extreme measures to halt the disease, which spreads like a virulent flu, before it wipes out the state's $3-billion poultry industry.

Since the disease was discovered in September in a backyard flock of chickens in Compton, task force members have placed wide swaths of Southern California under quarantine. They walk door-to-door, searching for sick birds. If a bird is suspected of having the disease, it is killed immediately, in some cases in front of crying owners.

Bird lovers complain that they are more frightened of the task force than the disease.

Actor-producer Jeff Maxwell, who owns a 22-year-old parrot, said he watched in shock as a task force agent last weekend jotted down the address and a description of his Alhambra home and then entered its global positioning satellite coordinates into a hand-held computer. He later learned from his mailman that USDA officials have enlisted the Postal Service into reporting the addresses of bird owners.

The task force has been given "carte blanche to kill any feathered thing on your property or your house regardless of whether it tests positive," Maxwell said. "The thought of somebody driving to my door, which now could happen because I've been identified as being a bird owner, and coming in and killing my bird in front of me is outrageous."

Annette Whiteford, who helps manage the task force on behalf of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, has spent months fielding similar complaints from angry and distraught bird owners.

"Being on this task force has been depressing because I have been trained to save animals," said Whiteford, a veterinarian. "Now my mission is to save animals by killing animals. This disease is not pretty."

Exotic Newcastle is harmless to humans but affects virtually all bird species, especially chickens. The uncurable disease causes sneezing, coughing and diarrhea, and can be spread by a speck of saliva carried on a feather blowing in the wind.

The last time the virus hit the state's poultry industry was in the early 1970s, when 12 million chickens had to be destroyed at a cost of more than $50 million. The disease took almost three years to eradicate.

Following the discovery of Newcastle last year, authorities ordered birds in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties quarantined. The lockdown was recently extended to Santa Barbara, Ventura and Imperial counties. New cases have been discovered in Nevada and Arizona. People who move birds out of the quarantined areas could face a $25,000 fine.

The task force, formed by the state Department of Food and Agriculture and the USDA, has been trying to control the virus by killing seemingly healthy birds living within approximately half a mile of infected fowl. Nearly 2,000 people, many of them out-of-state veterinarians and other USDA workers, have been brought in for 21-day rotations on the task force.

Agents have set up two busy headquarters, one in Garden Grove and the other in Colton. The task force makes wall-sized charts of infected and quarantined areas in Southern California. Giant red circles blend together in parts of San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.

So far, the task force has killed 3.2 million birds at 22 farms and commercial businesses, most of them in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Nearly 137,000 birds making up 2,343 backyard flocks have also been killed, including 417 such flocks in Los Angeles County, two in Orange County and three in Ventura County. Some wild birds have also been killed.

Cases of the disease have been identified in 28 Los Angeles County communities. Lancaster, Little Rock, South El Monte, El Monte and La Puente account for the highest instances of disease in backyard flocks.

"Newcastle disease is the hoof-and-mouth disease of birds," said Jack Shere, a veterinarian who is leading the task force on behalf of the USDA. "People don't seem to grasp how important that is. The bottom line is you have to euthanize the few to protect the many."

Earlier this year, the task force targeted parts of the Westside after a bird suspected of having the disease was dropped off at an animal shelter. Eventually the area was declared safe, but only after agents fanned out through West Los Angeles and Santa Monica, warning residents that government has the authority to kill pet birds if necessary to halt the outbreak of disease.

In February, task force members accompanied by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies eradicated more than 100 birds at the Little Rock home of Amalia Piceno -- chickens, ducks, some peacocks and a pair of turkeys named Thelma and Louise. One peacock was shot from a tree with a .22-caliber rifle. Piceno said the family was paid $1,254 for the losses.

"They don't care about your feelings," Piceno said Friday, breaking down in tears as she recalled the incident. "They even destroyed all the pens we had. I said, 'Who's going to pay for that?' and they told me, 'Not us.' "

Last month, task force members, accompanied by police officers, showed up at Deanna Wood's home in Mira Loma. Carrying a forced-entry warrant, they pushed through her backyard gate and seized her pet rooster, four hens and two ducks. They placed the birds in a large cardboard barrel. Wood said she stood in horror, listening to the birds shriek as task force members filled the barrel with carbon dioxide.

She said she was later told that agents had found an infected flock of birds "around the corner and up the street" from her house. "I feel like I've lost seven members of my family," Wood said.

Jittery leaders of the Parrot Society of Los Angeles are circulating a bulletin to its members:

"Be prepared not to allow a task force member entry into your home, no matter how polite they seem.... If no law enforcement officer is with them, call 911 for help. Keep a video camera handy, with fresh film and batteries."

Daina Castellano, a Parrot Society board member, said she has spent hours consoling traumatized bird owners.

"The violation of people who have lost their pets is overwhelming," said Castellano, a Santa Monica resident who owns eight macaws and an African Grey parrot.

Meanwhile, several groups of bird owners in March sued Gov. Gray Davis and governmental agencies, demanding that due-process protections be instituted to block officials from "arbitrarily" killing pets and show birds.

Lawyer William Dailey of West Hollywood said more than 800 healthy birds belonging to petitioners named in the complaint have been killed so far and hundreds of others are in jeopardy.

"We're asking that birds not be killed unless they need to be," Dailey said. "If they were doing this to people's dogs and cats, there'd be such a scream down here it would be heard clear in Sacramento."

Maxwell, whose roles have included that of Private Igor on the "MASH" television series, said he was told that his parrot, George, would be granted a reprieve if he implemented "a bio-security plan" that meets standards being set by the task force.

He quickly installed troughs filled with bleach at his front and back doors to disinfect the bottoms of shoes. Visitors must wear freshly laundered clothing and wash their hands 10 to 20 seconds in hot, soapy water upon entering his house.

"I love my bird dearly," he said. "I've had him 22 years. We don't have kids -- George is our kid."

Those who own any birds should be very aware of not only the story as it unfolds but all precautions you can take to protect your own birds. Do not take this lightly! This is deadly with a mortality rate of 90-95%!