(Beth Clifton collage)
Excessive secrecy hinted at deteriorating conditions for years
STANWOOD, Washington––Lori Keene Rutledge, 66, for thirty years often among the go-to people in parrot rescue, was on March 14, 2022 removed from her Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary in a rural area southeast of Stanwood, Washington by emergency medical services.
Animal control personnel who obtained a search-and-seizure warrant found only one of the fifty-odd cockatoos believed to have been in her possession still alive. Two emaciated dogs were also removed alive.
Citron crested cockatoos photographed in 2016.
(Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary Facebook photo)
Parrot rescue community self-policing failed
The circumstances make a strong case for the urgent necessity of bringing captive birds under the protection of the federal Animal Welfare Act. The failure of the parrot fancy, especially the parrot rescue community, to monitor and respond to the long deteriorating conditions at the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary, could scarcely make a stronger case against self-policing.
The “Model Avicultural Program” that many parrot breeders and rescuers argue should prevail in lieu of federal inspections and enforcement did not protect the birds left in Rutledge’s care, some of them delivered by other rescuers as recently as nine months before her death.
(Lori Rutledge Facebook photo posted in 2012)
“Exemplary” five years ago means nothing now
Apologists for Rutledge argue online that her bird facilities were exemplary years earlier, but that became increasingly irrelevant as time passed, with no one checking to ensure that what had been exemplary when Rutledge was young and healthy still was, as she aged and her health failed.
The “Model Avicultural Program” earlier did not protect the hundreds of birds kept by breeder Martha Scudder in a case originating more than 20 years before, in which Rutledge herself unsuccessfully attempted intervention.
(See USDA proposes to cover birds under the Animal Welfare Act––sort of.)
Moluccan cockatoo aviary outside of the Cockatoo Rescue and Sanctuary. (Facebook photo)
Refuse & remains
Rutledge died on March 19, 2022 at Skagit Valley Hospital, leaving behind a house, aviary, and outbuildings that video shared with media by Snohomish County Animal Services show were filled with refuse and animal remains.
“The sanctuary and its large aviary are tucked behind trees, and down a gravel driveway, the entrance has a massive wrought-iron gate wall with a lock on it, and ‘no trespassing’ signs are posted nearby,” reported Michelle Esteban of KOMO News, an hour’s drive south in Seattle.
Hoarding expert Vicky Crosetti. See Vicky Crosetti, 66: “She was a good friend,” to animals & humans. (Beth Clifton collage)
“Secluded life”
“It’s not even clear from the road leading to her property that it is an aviary,” Esteban said.
Rutledge “had a pretty secluded life. Her family wasn’t aware of what was going on, her neighbors didn’t interact with her, and her property wasn’t clearly visible or accessible,” Snohomish County Animal Services manager Debby Zins told Esteban, offering the usual excuse people make for animal hoarders:
“It appears she had been running a successful sanctuary for some time and I think in her case it just got somehow overwhelming for her.”
(See Handling hoarders, by Vicky Crosetti.)
(Beth Clifton collage)
Overwhelming bull feathers
But that begs the question why Rutledge herself did not seek help before 50-odd cockatoos died, probably from starvation and dehydration, but possibly from a highly contagious disease such as the H5N1 avian influenza.
Rutledge was well-known among the parrot rescue community, active for years on social media, and experienced herself in responding to hoarding situations.
Further, the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary location, hidden among trees though it is, was within eight miles or less of the nationally noted NOAH Center dog-and-cat shelter, the Purrfect Pals cat shelter, at least three other dog-and-cat rescue operations, the Pigs Peace pig sanctuary, and two horse rescues, all of them well-connected with an array of emergency animal services––if anyone had called for help.
Lori Rutledge and volunteer. (Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary photo, posted in 2012)
Northwest Parrots posted warnings in 2018
Acquaintances posting to the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary page on Facebook said Rutledge suffered from “brain cancer,” and knew she had cancer, but no one appears to have intervened.
Seattle “parrot lady” Debbie Goodrich posted a suggestion to Facebook that “anyone following [should] look at Northwest Parrots group to see our 2018 discussion about Lori Rutledge [that] they reposted recently, and how we put out flags then to not bring birds to her because no one could visit.”
But the 3,000-member Northwest Parrots group is closed to non-members, and non-members seeking a home for a parrot would never have seen that discussion.
Enclosure at Cockatoo Rescue and Sanctuary.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Rutledge got a sandwich; dogs & parrots went unfed
On March 12, 2022, “at around 7:41 a.m., emergency medical services responded to a call to Rutledge’s home for a fall victim,” summarized Roadside Zoo News, in an extensive report based on public documents also posted to the Roadside Zoo News web site.
“Rutledge told first responders she had been lying on the floor since the day before and she said she was just able to get to the phone to call 911,” the Roadside Zoo News account continued.
“First responders got Rutledge off the floor, checked her blood sugar, and brought her a sandwich. They found two parrots and two dogs––a Chihuahua and a Great Dane–inside the home with her. They brought her dog food and offered to feed and water her dogs and her birds, but Rutledge said she had fed them that morning. When they replied that she had been lying on the floor since the day before, Rutledge said she had someone else come in to feed them. Rutledge refused to go to the hospital, so first responders left.”
Without calling animal control.
(Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary Facebook photo)
“Rescuers” locked up dogs & still did not feed them
The next day, March 13, 2022, “at around 1:30 p.m., emergency medical services again responded to Rutledge’s house,” Roadside Zoo News resumed. “Rutledge told officials that she fell again and her Great Dane kept knocking her down.”
As the Great Dane “was aggressive toward responders,” Roadside Zoo News said, “they locked the Great Dane and the Chihuahua in a bedroom,” but offered to feed and water them.
Rutledge again insisted she had a friend to do that.
“They asked about the birds again, and she said she fed them,” Roadside Zoo News continued. “They asked how she could feed them if she was on the floor and she got defensive and said her friend fed them.”
Rutledge named a woman with an address in Sedro Woolley, 24 miles north, for whom Rutledge had no telephone number.
(Major Mitchell’s cockatoo aka Leadbeater’s cockatoo posted to Facebook in 2019 by the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary)
Found 50 dead birds & still did not call animal control
This time emergency medical services transported Rutledge to the Skagit Valley Hospital.
“Snohomish fire captain Gino Bellizzi walked outside and found about 12-15 carport style cages with about 50 dead birds inside,” Roadside Zoo News added. “Documents indicate the birds were in an advanced state of decomposition and all that was left of them were feathers and feet.”
Yet another day elapsed before, on March 14, 2022, “animal control officer Paul Delgado received a complaint from emergency medical services about the conditions at Rutledge’s home,” which should have triggered an immediate call to animal control during the first emergency medical services visit.
“Delgado met with a caseworker for Rutledge and the pair spoke with Rutledge in her hospital room,” Roadside Zoo News said.
Rutledge however, again repeatedly refused to allow animal control to feed and water her surviving animals, and named two people, this time a man and woman who apparently do not exist, as her supposed animal caretakers.
Rescued Moluccan cockatoos 2018 at Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary. (Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary Facebook photo)
Birds fell silent, rats proliferated, & still no questions
“Delgado left the hospital room and drove to Rutledge’s property and spoke with a neighbor,” narrated Roadside Zoo News.
“The neighbor stated that they had troubles in the past with the noise from the birds, but the birds stopped making noise sometime in the past year, and now for the past several months they have had a rat problem,” believe to result from rats “coming from Rutledge’s property.”
On March 16, 2022, after further efforts to secure cooperation from Rutledge, “and after the surviving animals had been alone in Rutledge’s home for 69 hours,” Roadside Zoo News finished, “Delgado obtained and executed a search warrant at Rutledge’s property and confiscated two dogs and two cockatoos. One of the cockatoos was dead at the scene.”
“With Rutledge’s death,” Esteban of KOMO News reported, “investigators said there is no reason to further investigate. They have no suspect.”
Not at Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary: Sam the cockatoo plays with Raja the mini zebu.
(Beth Clifton photo)
Never completed nonprofit status
But everyone who knew about the existence of the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary, yet failed to ask appropriate questions, might be considered a suspect in the moral sense, if not the legal sense.
For starters, Rutledge in 1998 incorporated the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary as a nonprofit corporation in Washington state, but appears to have never obtained federal IRS 501(c)(3) status as a public charity, and never identified a board of directors or filed a financial statement.
Where did the money go when Rutledge received a bird with a stipend for the bird’s care, or received any other sort of donation?
If Rutledge never did fundraising, how did she finance the care of 50-odd birds for 30 years?
(Beth Clifton photo)
Ran into earlier trouble over noise
“When Lori Rutledge began taking in unwanted parrots in 1992,” wrote Everett Daily Herald reporter Janice Podsada, “she hoped to offer them sanctuary at her then-home in Edmonds,” just north of Seattle. “But in 1996, her Edmonds aviary ruffled neighbors, leading to public noise disturbance charges.
“If I have to, I’ll go to jail for my birds,” Rutledge told The Daily Herald in 1996.
The public disturbance charges were dropped after Rutledge relocated to the 20-acre Stanwood site, which at the back of the property appears to abut the Silvana Fire Department.
Why was the Silvana Fire Department unaware of the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary situation until Rutledge made her March 12, 2022 call to 911?
(Beth Clifton collage)
Many parrots, plus a cuckoo
At the Stanwood property, Rutledge “reportedly cared for dozens, if not hundreds, of pet and wild caught cockatoos, macaws, African greys and other parrots,” Podsada continued.
“Bird owners seeking to surrender their pets were promised a ‘peaceful park-like setting.’ Cockatoos and parrots, who can live up to 70 years in captivity, could ‘live out their lives with their own kind,’ according to the sanctuary’s Facebook Page. Rutledge did not allow adoptions. Facebook photos from 2016 show a lush green oasis dotted with large, covered enclosures,” which other bird rescuers believe may have housed as many as 400 birds.
“Michael Jacobs, a Lynnwood attorney representing her next of kin, said that after Rutledge died, her family went to the sanctuary and discovered about 50 dead birds,” Podsada wrote.
Jacobs denied rumors that Rutledge kept hundreds of birds farther back on the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary lot than could be seen from her house.
Google Earth images show no structures in the more remote parts of the property.
Shellie Hochstetler. (Facebook photo)
Dropped off 12 cockatoos without a look-around
But Rutledge herself fed the rumors.
Wrote Podsada, “Shellie Hochstetler, who runs Holidays Exotic Avian Rescue, a nonprofit refuge in White Pigeon, Michigan, visited the Stanwood sanctuary in August 2021 to drop off 12 cockatoos. Rutledge told her she had hundreds of birds housed in the back part of the 40-acre property, which was not readily accessible.
“But Hochstetler did not tour the grounds,” Podsada noted. “It was evening and she only saw the outdoor enclosures near Rutledge’s home where the remains were found.”
Of what Podsada called “Rutledge’s self-described attempt to keep many of her birds out of sight and away from prying eyes,” Hochstetler offered, “She had so many lines of defense to protect them and her. She had so many birds, worth millions of dollars total.”
Bob Dawson at Macaw Rescue & Sanctuary. (Facebook photo)
More people claim to have seen the extinct Carolina parakeet in recent years than actually saw the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary
But verified parrot thefts in the U.S. have fallen from more than 1,000 per year between 1994 and 1998, to just a few in recent years––albeit that the most recent reported mass theft, of 30 birds, came in 2015 at the Macaw Rescue & Sanctuary in Carnation, Washington, 60 miles south of Stanwood.
The Macaw Rescue & Sanctuary is an 800-bird facility run by longtime Rutledge acquaintance Bob Dawson.
Dawson “hadn’t spoken to Rutledge in several years,” Podsada learned.
“Betsy Lott, who runs Mollywood Avian Sanctuary in Bellingham, Washington,” 40 miles north, “last visited Rutledge’s sanctuary in 2004,” Podsada continued.
Said Lott, “She had beautiful carport aviary frames with greenhouses on them and a manicured landscape and gorgeous pathways. She had these big Great Dane dogs that were like her predator protection. She had no volunteers and nobody was allowed to visit.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
“They get traumatized”
Rutledge’s self-isolation should have set off alarms, as should self-isolation on the part of anyone in care of animals, but did not.
Claimed Dawson, “A lot of her birds were wild-caught birds that do not do well when people visit. They get traumatized.”
But––except when nesting with a clutch of eggs or chicks, and a legitimate sanctuary does not breed animals––few birds are more gregarious than parrots, or less intimidated by humans than cockatoos, especially.
And yes, ANIMALS 24-7 has experience with both captive cockatoos, among other parrots, and parrots in the wild.
Last posted to Facebook in February 2019
Last posted to Facebook in February 2019Noted Podsada, “The last time Rutledge posted on the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary’s Facebook page was February 2019. She described moving all the birds indoors due to an impending snow storm.”
Said Rutledge then, “I don’t like working outside in colder weather. Most of the birds who winter outdoors have bullet-proof plexiglass heated greenhouses. Once I saw the forecast of snow and frigid temps, I brought all of the birds indoors. Yes there is room.”
Why did no one ask why Rutledge thereafter vanished from Facebook for three years, and why was anyone still taking birds to her without inspecting the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary premises, two and a half years into her self-imposed silence?
Mira Tweti. (Beth Clifton collage)
Began in rescue amid breeding boom
Rutledge became involved in parrot rescue, Of Parrots & People author Mira Tweti of Los Angeles indicated, after “The business of parrot breeding underwent a major change in 1992, when Congress passed the Wild Bird Conservation Act. With the legislation, the United States effectively closed its doors to imports of birds caught in the wild. That fueled a boom in domestically bred parrots.
(See Coyotes, parrots, & the ghosts of George & Joy Adamson.)
“With U.S. breeders controlling the population,” Tweti explained, “the birds available for sale were plentiful and the species varied. They also were less expensive to consumers.
“In 1990, there were an estimated 14 million pet birds in the United States. By 1996, there were 40 million,” rising by 2005 to “50 million to 60 million pets with an estimated two million young parrots added each year.”
Rutledge, Tweti wrote, “once complimented a local breeder who kept his birds in large outdoor cages.
“I said to him, ’Your birds must absolutely love you for giving them this much space, fresh air and sunshine,” Rutledge recalled. “He said, ‘They think I am the devil. They hate me. I take their babies. You should hear them scream.’”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Martha Scudder’s Parrot Depot
By then, first the Humane Society of Tacoma & Pierce County and later People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had been receiving complaints for at least six years about Martha Scudder’s Parrot Depot breeding facility in Roy, Washington. Necropsy reports described bird deaths from a variety of allegedly avoidable causes.
The Humane Society of Tacoma & Pierce County, Tweti reported, in 2003 contracted with Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary to house the Scudder parrots, if confiscated.
“Rutledge said she could accept most of the estimated 800 birds at Scudder’s on her 40-acre property,” wrote Tweti. “The facility already houses several species of rescued breeder birds,
including a dozen types of cockatoos, nine kinds of macaws, six species of Amazons, and African grey parrots.
“Rutledge said she also would send birds to a conservation park that her colleague, aviculturalist Bob Dawson, has built on 20 acres in Carnation.”
(Beth Clifton photo)
“The joy in their eyes is unforgettable”
Rutledge told Tweti that at Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary, parrots “can choose their friends, where they want to hang out, if they want to sun themselves. They love it. The joy in their eyes is unforgettable.”
But the anticipated confiscation from Scudder never occurred. The Scudder parrots were never delivered to either Rutledge or Dawson.
Noted Tweti at the time, 17 years ago, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture is drafting an amendment to the Animal Welfare Act that would include minimum care standards for birds. The amended law is expected to be years off.”
The draft minimum care standards were finally published in February 2022.
Debbie Goodrich, the Seattle “Parrot Lady.” (Facebook photo)
“The lesson learned”
Concluded the Seattle “parrot lady,” Debbie Goodrich, “For me, the lesson learned is that we must force the current Animal Welfare Act law being proposed to absolutely include all sanctuaries and rescues.
“Secondly, that if someone is not responding to you about the care you paid them [for] when you delivered your animal, then I think you can call for a wellness check.
“I know there are many cases where dozens of complaints are filed, but the complaints do not result in action,” Goodrich acknowledged.
“In the same light, I’ve seen whole confiscations happen with little to complain about in real abuse, and have also seen abusers get their animals back with the animal control officer dumping evidence for lesser charges,” which might be less likely to happen in cases involving federal rather than just local agencies.
But Goodrich also objected to publicity about the details of the Rutledge case, which at the very least have possible warning and deterrent value, and help to show the need for the proposed Animal Welfare Act extension to cover bird facilities.
Laurella Desborough.
(Facebook photo)
“Find a designated contact”
Longtime Florida parrot breeder Laurella Desborough, 87, who frequently comments on ANIMALS 24-7 postings, advised colleagues to do more than ” just make a will. Find a designated contact, Desborough said, “who is willing to call every morning and say ‘Hi.’ When the bird owner dies not answer, then the contact person knows the bird owner is either ill or dead. This is what serious older and ill bird owners do, if they care about their birds. This has been done for many decades to prevent bird deaths by older single bird owners. It works.”
(Beth & Merritt Clifton)
Desborough also emphasized that the Rutledge case demonstrates the need for the Animal Welfare Act to cover “rescues” and “sanctuaries,” as well as breeders, a deficiency in the Animal Welfare Act regulations as currently written pertaining to mammals as well as to birds.
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EVERYONE who cares for any animal(s) and is able to do so should appoint a designated contact to check in daily and call assistance in the event the caregiver does not respond. Countless lives could be saved. We need to defend and step up for those we care about. Other sources so often drop the ball and the results are tragic.
Sharing with gratitude and sorrow.
It is not at all surprising that many animal advocates and animal groups did not respond to the deteriorating psychological and physical condition of this woman who was no longer able to care for the animals in her home, resulting in disastrous consequences for all.
It is an unfortunate reality that many animal advocates–for a variety of reasons–are no longer emotionally invested in people and by extension the animals in people’s homes have ceased being objects of interest or concern.
If people had started with the questions–What is happening with this woman?, What is she experiencing?, What can we say to connect with her?, How can we show her that we care about her and want to help her?, then the animals in her home might have ended up alive and protected.
Several of Lori Rutledge’s longtime friends and colleagues say they did try to call her at various times during her last years, but she never returned their calls, and they did not bother to try to visit in person, or to call the cop shop to do a welfare check.
People report that they did inquire. She just rebuked everyone off her property. Besides, this was not a private “ownership” but a non-profit with a governing board. Where was the board when things started to deteriorate?
Who, specifically, made any sort of serious inquiry into the activities of Lori Rutledge & Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary during her last four years on the property? No such person has identified himself/herself to us, or to our knowledge, been identified either by other news media &/or public social media.
In the event of being denied access, complaints could have been made to a variety of agencies, including the local police, fire, public health, and animal control agencies, as well as to the Washington state departments of wildlife and agriculture, and to the Charities Division of the Washington Secretary of State.
Had a complaint been made to the Charities Division of the Washington Secretary of State, that office might have discovered that as their online records show, Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary apparently NEVER had the governing board it was supposed to have had, and NEVER filed a financial report. Neither did Rutledge ever actually obtain IRS 501(c)(3) status.
What the inquiries are concerned, several people on FB Northwest parrots stated that their inquires were rebuked, but no exact information regarding the time frame of their last inquiries. Someone reported that Tony SIlva contacted Lori to offer transfer of her birds ( or at least some of them) to a breeding for conservation facility in Indonesia, and her answer was not friendly. I had a brief contact with Lori years ago, visited the facility once, but Lori did not respond to further attempts to keep contact. Living close by, I regret now that I haven’t been more persistent, but it’s kinda difficult when you get a clear “not welcome” presented repeatedly. I guess in the back of my mind I had excuses for her “protecting the birds”, and expected that with a governing board, which every WA non-profit should have, at least one of them would ring a bell when help is needed.
What complaints to the local police or animal control is concerned- you already saw what happened when they were finally called. Unless you can prove that something is wrong they won’t get access- I think they need a warrant and have enough evidence to get one. The Charities Division would have been an option, especially when people who relinquished their birds to the sanctuary reported not to get access to check on their well being. I’m not trying to make excuses here, this has been a lack of vigilance on many sides, and I include myself. The question here is, where is the line between “policing” others and caring about their well being, especially when they are responsible for animals depending on them. Should you ‘break the law’ and climb over the fence when you suspect something is ‘not right’ there? I would very strongly react against people doing that on my property just to convince themselves that everything is well here.
But obviously, you cannot rely on law enforcement or State supervision either- the State knew she was delinquent with filing her records.
The Sanctuary had a board on file: Whitney O’Leary, Kearney Hammer, and Mary Keene (listed on opengovwa.com). WA law requires that governors of non-profits participate in the organization of a non-profit corp.: >Active Participation. A director should actively participate in the
management of the organization including setting direction, attending
meetings of the board, evaluating reports, reading minutes, reviewing
the PERFORMANCE and compensation of the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Board members should ensure that the organization’s mission is being accomplished..<
So again, where was that Board of governors when things started to deteriorate? Why is someone left as an Executive Director to care for hundreds of parrots when diagnosed with brain cancer? The birds were not Lori's responsibility alone- this is not a case like Ohio with a private 'owner' hoarding and neglecting his animals-( which was horrible and infuriating in itself). I'm probably wrong, but with a State incorporated non-profit, I did not expect that someone needs to climb over the fence and secretly take pictures of a decaying situation of animal care to get some timely intervention, and just because someone rebukes you at the door you won't get an animal control officer to check either.
Somehow, we need to get some clear guidelines here to what can be done in such situations.
Thank you for identifying the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary board members as Whitney O’Leary, Kearney Hammer, and Mary Keene. Who Whitney O’Leary might be is unclear. A Colleen O’Leary was removed from the board on March 17, 2020, with no identified successor. Kearney Hammer, 74, is a Stanwood attorney. He appears to have been involved from 1998 to 2018. Mary Keene appears to be an older sister of Lori Keene Rutledge who lives about 250 miles south of the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary site. Mary Keene was removed from the board on March 10, 2020, and was not replaced, but is listed on some documents as owner of a majority share of the property that the Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary occupied.
Concerning warrant requirements, etc., I co-taught a seminar on this with longtime Texas cruelty investigator Dave Garcia and the late Vicky Crosetti, then executive director of the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley, at several editions of the annual No Kill Conference in the late 1990s. Evidence sufficient to obtain a search warrant may be obtained from anywhere a law enforcement agent has permission to be, OR from any indicative public record. In the case of Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary, the points from which sufficient evidence might have been obtained included the road, driveway, and walkway to wherever mail and packages were left; the property of the neighbor who complained about rats; or the property of the Silvana Fire Department, whose back fence was about 600 feet from the aviary.
It is also useful to understand that animals surrendered to a nonprofit organization are NOT private property. A nonprofit organization of any sort holds funds and property as a public trust, subject to reasonable accountability requirements, including establishing to state and local authorities, if questions arise, that animals held by the charity are alive and well. Failure to allow state and local authorities access to private property to verify that animals held in public trust are alive and well can in itself be grounds for obtaining a search warrant.
Lori Rutledge, like many other hoarders in the name of rescue, acted as if the animals in her care were her private property, but they were not, and any individual who behaves similarly should be disabused of the notion that animals obtained and held via nonprofit auspices are private property, as are, for instance, farmed animals.
Follow the money. Parrots are big money.
I hate to break the news to you, but if you think there is any profit at all in a well run rescue think again. Rescues or sanctuaries that hide behind a 501c3 non profit and flip and breed birds are quite another story. There needs to be licensing and inspection of all facilities, and I would have absolutely no problem letting my rescue be inspected anytime and I don’t even have nonprofit status. Unfortunately all too often rescues, and not just for birds become overwhelmed quickly, and the costs mount, causing a dire situation including what started with a kind heart turns into a hoarding situation with minimum care at best. The problem we face with the birds is their longevity, so a forever home doesn’t mean necessarily forever for the bird. We all need to get together and figure this out before another tragedy happens as there have been several.
A truly sad story. Parrot “breeders” are a Heart of Darkness at the center of it. The term “breeder” is obscene from every standpoint. People purchase parrots and other exotic birds as household decorations, for vanity and impulse, then neglect them in their cages, often relegated to a far corner to live in isolation. Buyers discover that a parrot or macaw needs care and attention and that they scream and chew wood, being as they are tropical forest-dwellers, despite having been “bred” for domestication.
I had a beloved Blue-Fronted Amazon female parrot from 1972-1994 until she died. Her name was Tikhon. I rescued her by buying her from a Big Box store where she was in a cage all alone behind plexiglass. It was unbearable to me seeing her there when I would go to that store specifically to see if she was still there, unsold. One evening, I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I bought her and am glad I did. I loved her deeply and she returned that love many times over. It is heartbreaking to think of all the wonderful birds who will never experience the world as Nature intended, whether they are parrots, chickens, or other kinds of birds deprived of the habitats – the homes they evolved to live and thrive in.
We mustn’t forget that chickens, like parrots, evolved to live and thrive in forests. The world of the tropical forest resides in their genetic makeup despite all the obscene and destructive “breeding” they have helplessly undergone, just like the poor, helpless parrots, macaws and other vibrant avian souls whose joy of life our species has carelessly stripped away. It’s a crime against life for which we pay no penalty, proof that justice does not exist although we must continue fighting for it anyway.
Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns. http://www.upc-online.org
Hello Beth & Merritt,
Thank you for the great article. This certainly is a great narrative of the historical nature of the situation, as well as a look at the bigger picture surrounding it.
Just a kind note to mention that the one photo (#10) is not a Moluccan, it is a Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo (aka Leadbeater’s Cockatoo)
Thank you Lori! We fixed it.
One noted correction is at the time in 2018, the Northwest Parrots group was public. So it was seen by more people and had access to content. They were forced to change to private due to New Facebook rules somewhere between 2020-2021.
The case i referred to where ACO returned birds and harmed a rescue org and destroyed evidence was in Troy, OH.
Lastly, this case was a multiple system failure as you pointed out. That does not imply whatsoever that normal self-policing does not work. Most cases avoid this devastation, otherwise this report would be repeated regularly. The bad actors act badly, making those who do good as a majority a living hell.
It is sad i have felt forced to push for licensing under the Animal Welfare Act. This means constitutional protections can be violated just because a person wants to do a good thing.
What I fail to understand is that the Animal Welfare Act says “animal”. How come all animals under all circumstances do not fall under that protection automatically for the basics of their lives? That more law is needed. To me a law that says animals need access food, water should be enough. And then figuring out what abuse is going on, case by case, based on an expert called in by an animal control officer on that animal’s specific need.
No matter what, abuse will happen. Abuse of the law has clearly happened by officers. Nature itself is unkind and often not forgiving. Do we sue nature for its serious abuses or ban nature? It’s a pendulum that needs careful consideration of constitutional protection of us all who want animals at all or live animals at all.
Remember, the current legislative goals of HSUS, PeTA, ALF, BORNFREE are to remove any ability for humans to have animals in our care. Thinking only thing we do is abuse and banning everything saying wild places are animal utopia. They are not in Utopia where they are free to choose out there. Their daily choices range from, “I hope I eat today, I hope I find water, I hope i don’t get eaten, I hope I don’t drink something toxic, I hope I don’t feel sick … it’s survival, not thriving as an individual… as a species. And their so called choices out there are manipulated more and more as we take more away from them because we wont stop our own population growth as the human race as a whole.
So even all the rules, laws, bans of everything is not going to stop abuse, its going to increase it, as we have less and less empathy to build from experience to help improve our lives and understanding of the world to care.
Education continues its critical need and continues to be the most underfunded and least sought out solution. We removed animals from classrooms and our empathy dropped by half. I was fortunate to be raised in an era where we learned from animals. The amount of fear i see increasing in schools when i bring out birds is sad. So many are terrified enough, they have to leave the room. This is good to fear nature? Animals? When we rely on both for our survival, like it or not?
Instead this social media content is enough vs a club? Or talking to others with more experiences? How many of you go to a conference and not just one side of animal needs, but both to get an open, educated perspective?
Lastly, ask yourself, how did you become an animal welfare advocate that you are if you read or write this? Because we need more not less and bans will create less not more.
From the top:
• The Troy, Ohio case mentioned, involving parrot breeder Douglas Ratcliff, is summarized at https://cases.justia.com/ohio/second-district-court-of-appeals/2014-2014-ca-9-0.pdf?ts=1412363241. While Ratcliff contested the August 1, 2011 impoundment of his birds, the Ohio Court of Appeals found on October 3, 2014 that, “There is overwhelming evidence that Ratcliff’s birds were neglected prior to the Humane Society intervening,” and that the sole reason for any birds remaining on Ratcliff’s property at the time of impoundment was simply that the Miami County Humane Society had nowhere else to take them. Members of the Miami Valley Bird Club and a local veterinarian thereafter assisted in looking after the birds. Ratcliff then sued the Miami Valley Bird Club members. The Ohio Court of Appeals decision is quite technical, but includes no mention of anyone allegedly destroying evidence or returning birds to Ratcliff, whose lawsuits hinged on the contention that his birds had been
“stolen” from him.
• Only 105 days into 2022, 19 nonprofit animal “sanctuaries” and “rescues” have collapsed into hoarding situations requiring legal intervention. There were 47 such cases in 2021, 38 in 2020 (note that observation of hoarding cases may have been inhibited in 2020-2021 by social distancing requirements imposed due to COVID-19), 91 in 2019, 79 in 2018, 73 in 2017, 115 in 2016, 89 in 2015, and 83 in 2014. By comparison, there were “only” 156 “sanctuary” and “rescue” failures from 1982, when ANIMALS 24-7 began tracking the data, to 1996, when ANIMALS 24-7 first published a summary of the findings. Clearly this is a much bigger problem than is generally realized, and the general trend is toward getting worse instead of better.
• The phrase “This means constitutional protections can be violated just because a person wants to do a good thing” is nonsense. The requirements for search-and-seizure warrants to be issued before any law enforcement agency can set foot on anyone’s private property for any reason have been markedly strengthened by the courts over the time the federal Animal Welfare Act has existed, and strong evidence is required that a suspect is NOT doing “a good thing” before a judge can issue a search-and-seizure warrant.
• The Animal Welfare Act originated in 1966 as the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act. The language pertaining to “any animal” was added in 1971. The meaning of this language has gradually been extended through litigation and further legislation, but there remain many exemptions as result of the political influence of the various animal use industries. Meanwhile, federal jurisdiction extends only to animal facilities involved in activities that are involved in interstate commerce, as constitutionally defined. This includes sanctuaries that accept animals and/or funding from out of state, but does not include those that do not.
• The statement that “the current legislative goals of HSUS, PeTA, ALF, BORNFREE are to remove any ability for humans to have animals in our care” exhibits astonishing ignorance of who and what these entities are. The Humane Society of the U.S. has never opposed private ownership of animals for either agricultural purposes or as pets, providing that animals kept as pets are suitably kept as pets. This does categorically exclude many exotic species and wildlife, who tend to fare poorly in captivity. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals philosophically opposes animal ownership, but the PETA legislative program over the past 42 years has sought only to ensure the humane treatment of animals, rarely going beyond the positions of HSUS except in including pit bulls among the dangerous species not well-suited to being kept as pets (a position with which ANIMALS 24-7 agrees.) The “Animal Liberation Front” is a name that has been used by dozens of different individuals and small groups since 1976 for a variety of illegal activities, but has never had a legal existence, let alone a “legislative goal.” Few of the several dozen people who have been arrested over the years for “ALF” activities have had any contact or acquaintance with any of the others. A few people who at one point in their lives distributed media releases for people purporting to be “ALF” went on to work for actual animal advocacy organizations, but none of them have ever been convicted of any “ALF” activity and none of them have done anything on behalf of “ALF” in more than 25 years. The positions of the Born Free Foundation pertain only to captive wildlife, and are similar to those of HSUS and PETA in that Born Free opposes keeping animals in captivity who are unsafe or unsuitably kept as pets or for show.
• The statement that “We removed animals from classrooms and our empathy dropped by half” is, again, complete nonsense. As recently as 1950, high school girls were routinely required to kill chickens in home economics classes. As recently as 1980, most high school biology students were required to kill and dissect frogs. To this day, dissecting animals is still a routine classroom exercise, albeit that the students are no longer expected to do the killing. There is no evidence that removing killing chickens and frogs from school curriculums in any manner decreased anyone’s empathy; on the contrary, both animal advocacy as pet-keeping have only increased since then. Or does Debbie Goodrich refer to the practice of keeping classroom pets, who frequently died of mishandling and neglect before this fell out of vogue, or to the existence of school 4H programs, which are still thriving, or to schools paying traveling exhibitors to present exotic animal shows, by way of helping the exhibitors to fund roadside zoos?
The animals children need to see & learn to develop empathy for are those around them every day, including urban wildlife, and of course those animals who are dumped on their plates, dead, by adults.