BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds Pepper - Questions & Answers?

Please take a look at the article I just put up called Pepper - Lost & Found.

I'd love to hear what you think about the questions raised.

Well, first I want to say, thank goodness there was a happy ending and Pepper made it back home at all!
The problem with issuing opinions on the behavior of any of the individuals involved, is that we don't have the full story from any of them. There are always two sides to any story. (Or three or eight or eleventy-six, depending on how many people were involved! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ) I don't know any of the people involved here, so I have to go by what facts were offered.

Starting with the first gentlemen that found Pepper and demanded the reward, if they saw the initial escape of the bird as irresponsible on the owners part, they may have felt justified. I don't AGREE with that, but could MAYBE understand it. On the living conditions, if they thought the bird was just there for a couple of days until the owner showed up, I can see them not investing big bucks on a cage, but was sorry to hear that poor Pepper was living in a dog crate! But, it may have been one of the huge crates that a German Shepard would be comfortable in...no one specified. On the feeding issue, they were feeding pellets, and that is much better than the bird living on pizza and beer, so it sounds like they were trying. Maybe they just didn't KNOW about feeding veggies and other healthy foods. Also, they may not have known that smoking around the bird would hurt it. It would have been nice if they had tracked down the real owner and returned the bird immediately, but I don't feel I can condemn them out of hand either. That attitude probably won't make me very popular. LOL! But those weren't the real questions you asked, were they? So...

Yes, I get micro-chips for ALL my pets. And I would still post everywhere I could think of in search of any missing pet I had, and notify all the vets and services in the area. I would also check with the locals to see if a pet had been listed as missing in action if I found one.

No, I don't want any reward for returning a pet to his real owner, and no, I would not keep the pet if the real owner offered proof that it was indeed their pet. But I would want to see proof, including some photos of them with their pet. (Pets can't talk, and being excited to see someone is not always a good indication of ownership. Pets I've never seen before in my life are usually excited to see me.) Otherwise, it may go to some scam artist who wants a free pet or wants to sell it for a profit, in which case the pet might NEVER make it back to their real home.

I am glad there was a happy ending. I have a comment on the microchipping. Both of my danes came home microchipped. When they visited the vet for their puppy visit he told me that the microchip was a waste of time in our area as we are so small here that the vets don't have the scanner to read the chip. But if someone were to take the dogs to a larger area then the chips could be scanned. My vet said the company that makes the chips tried to sell him a scanner and it wasn't worth the cost in his opionion. I should also say that this is my ex-vet as we had many differing opinions and I found another vet that is an hours drive away, but I really like her (she doesn't have a scanner either for the chip). Hmm, I have just rambled on here!

Anyway, I would hope that if one of my girls (parrots, not dogs, but someone would return my rotten dogs after they had them for a while) got lost that whoever it was that found her would take good care of her in the event that they did not want to return her. Both of my girls are closed banded. I do keep them clipped and Hannah has a harnass that she wears but I do realize accidents happen. Miss P is not a fan of going outside so she is happy to stay in the house.

I would not want a reward either. The nice thing about being small town is everyone knows I have birds and large dogs and I am called when someone loses a bird or finds a bird/dog. Asking the people for a photo of their pet is a great idea. You could also ask for vet recipts as I have countless ones on my animals. The vet could vouch for the family if they had the pet or not.

Connie in Texas

Great article Mavis!!

Just to clarify one point, the first man, the original finder of the bird, did not demand a reward. The woman posing as the owner (ok, the wife of the owner) had put REWARD on her phony lost bird flyers.

Now, about microchipping, although its a good way to prove its your bird *after* you find it, it does no good until then. Most vets don't regularily scan, and many people finding a bird don't take it to the vet.

A band, that is observable by all, is much better in the case of a simply found bird. Yes, if its a theft, the band is easy to remove.

I think if you find something of value - whether it's a dog, cat, bird, diamond bracelet, whatever - that you have a moral obligation to try to find its owner. You don't just say "Ha ha ha it's mine!!" You don't sit back and say "I'll just wait and see if someone happens to find me and say they want it back". What if you found a child lost in a mall. Would you just take it home with you and figure the parents will track you down if they really want their darling back again?

On the 'scammers' who paid money and grabbed the bird, I think if they were willing to put all that time and energy into rigging up a "great adventure", why didn't they just find the real owners? I think that they were in love with the idea of pulling off the subterfuge and getting the parrot and being "heroes". But if they had really cared about the bird, why not put that same time and energy into finding the proper owners? It obviously could be done - people who own birds like that tend to take them to vets. Heck, my parakeets go to the vet for checkups ...

How could that mother & daughter think they were rescuing a bird by pretnding that they were the owners?? If there isn't a law against that - there should be. Why did the bird have to be rescued anyway? The guy was feeding him pellets - isn't that a GOOD thing? Maybe someone should contact the police & file a complaint against them.

Too bad the real owner paid her anything to get her bird back. I guess if she wouldn't let them leave with their bird unless they paid, I would have paid something too though.

It was asked how the pair could think they were rescuing the bird.........
I guess we all have our own set of standards. Its actually one of the problems in the world. If things aren't up to someones standards, they think they have to step in, because only they can do it right.
The pair decided that living in a dog crate? carrier? temporarily around smokers, with only a few hours of out time daily, and only pellets-was substandard care, so they proceeded to *rescue* the bird. Was it legal? Probably not. Should they have done it? I guess that depends on who you ask. Many people think they know what's best.
Gay

It was asked how the pair could think they were rescuing the bird.........
I guess we all have our own set of standards. Its actually one of the problems in the world. If things aren't up to someones standards, they think they have to step in, because only they can do it right.
The pair decided that living in a dog crate? carrier? temporarily around smokers, with only a few hours of out time daily, and only pellets-was substandard care, so they proceeded to *rescue* the bird. Was it legal? Probably not. Should they have done it? I guess that depends on who you ask. Many people think they know what's best.
Gay

My amazon, sammy, actually was lost once for 3 days! And to make it worse it was in a wooded area with lots of trees to hide in and wild animals that could have killed him! He was outside his cage on my parents deck railing and my toddler opened up an umbrella which scared him and off he flew!(they were so stupid to have him out there with un-clipped wings anyway!)I was hysterical and didn't sleep the whole time he was lost! Luckily all the neighbors knew we had a missing bird...and about the third morning one of them called and said sammy was sitting in the tree right outside her kitchen window! After abit of coaxing (he's so stubborn!) he finally came down to my dad and we took him home! He was okay, but very thirsty,hungry, and just wanted to sit on my shoulder and nap! I have NEVER forgotten that and NEVER want to go through it ever again!

If I found someones lost pet I would take the time to find it's owner and NOT expect any reward!

Lydia, oh wow, I am so glad that you were able to coax Sammy back. I bet he was so glad to be back home. Connie in Texas