[mnbird] Re: [mou] Exotic Species Law

[Laura Erickson]

When I did rehabbing, twice I was given House Sparrows, once a baby 
starling, and once a baby pigeon.  I'm one of those people who can be too 
empathetic with birds, and would never have been able to kill these 
individual birds.  But as one who is genuinely empathetic, I could never 
have released them into the wild, either, where they would most assuredly 
have caused problems for native birds.  One of the sparrows died of its 
injuries very quickly.  The other I kept as a pet, as I did with the 
starling.  Mortimer the Starling was a delightful house pet, delighting my 
children with his imitations--he lived to be 9 years old.  And Bernice the 
Pigeon lived a long life here, too.  Except for the starling, which I knew 
I wanted to keep as a pet to learn more about their vocalizations, none of 
these birds had been correctly identified by the person bringing it to 
me.  (The person who brought me Bernice actually thought he was a Barn Owl!)

Like domesticated cats, exotic birds do NOT belong outdoors in North 
America.  Period.

Laura Erickson
Duluth, MN


Producer, "For the Birds" radio program
<http://www.lauraerickson.com/>

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of 
birds.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of 
nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

                                 --Rachel Carson