vembo ora News - 7

teturning to the wild and other pet problems

ob
Punter

STRICTLY PERSONAL

I CONFESS, in ail, we have
_ Six sentient beings in captivi-
“ty ai home: one mate hamp-
ster, two female red slider
turtles, a male budgie and
two maie finches.
This is a source of enormous
embarrassment to me, and causes
the whole family stress, since we
argue endlessly about what to do
with the birds and the turtles and
the rodent.
it.was my wife who picked up
all of them, you understand, er,
except’ for the finches.
. OX, so a dear friend gave me
four finches, two males, two fe-
males,. several years ago.
_” How could {say no? It was a
” sweet gesture, and the finches’
singing has kept our home alive
with pleasant natural sounds ever
since, :
_ It didn’t occur to me at the time
that ‘there could be anything
wrong With having finches around.
Since then, I have been reading
about the international trade in
wild birds, and have reluctantly
“come to the conclusion that keep-
ing birds in cages is not only in-
escapably a cruel practice, it is
also increasingly ecologically in-
- defensible. ; oo
_*- T saw some video footage of

_ wild parrots being captured some-
where in South America.

The hunters capture one, break

its wing, chain it toa stuke, and
wait for its desperate cries to at:
iract Others, which are then net-
ted,

Millions of them are smiuggied
from One country to another,
inainly froin the Third World to
Furope, the Mideast, southeast
Asiviaind North America,

The vast majority of the birds
that survive being captured dig
horribly in the process of being
smuggled, wrapped up in layers of
cloth and crammed inte tires and
hollow compartments in trucks
and ships and planes.

Not every bird you're going to
buy in a pet store has been a vic-
tim of this double ordeal, of
course, but even if haiched and
raised in captivity here, with the
band on its leg to prove it, the life
of a winged creature unable to fly
cannot by any stretch of the
imagination ve a fun experience,

The trouble is, by the time you
as a pet owner belatedly figure
this out, you can’t just turn them
loose.

I've talked to people who are
into avian care. They insist that
canaries and parakeets and
budgies and finches and parrots,
birds from southern climes, can-
not survive a typical Canadian
winter.

I know this is similar to the
argument used by aquaria to
justify hanging on to their captive
orcas and other dolphins.

They’ ll never sui vive in the
wild, they say. But it’s a phoney
argument because plenty of
dolphins have been released in the
last couple of years, and all sur-
vived nicely.

In the case of ‘‘pets’’ like mine,
we unfortunately know exactly
what would happen.

If we released the turtles in 2.
swamp at this fatitude, come
winter, when the ice froze over,
they’d die. They wouldn't be able
to handle it. They’re from Loui-
siana and south into Mexico.

If we released the birds, they
too will be dead by winter, :
assuming they survive their first
night among the cats and raccoons
in the neighborhood.

The hampster has the best

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For Councillor in

West Vancouver
Vote for an effective
experienced Councillor with
integrity and energy for
the job, and commitment
to the community.

“Re-Elect
[ DIANA

HUTCHINSON

chance, but faces Ure same hostile
lerritin.

{t's at jungle out there. And they
have virtually no chance of fin-
ding a mate,

Oreas don't face the same array
of predators, and can handle
almost any climate, so, ctgain, the
dilemma of household pets is
substantially different from that
of captive dolphins.

Another major difference is that
household pets can affect your
health.

For some time now, Pve been
suspicious that a bad prolonged
spell of on-and-off gastro-
intestinal iness my wife and | had
both been experiencing might be
related, somehow, to the turtles.

The kids were unaffected, They,
however, never touch (he turtles,
Get the kids to clean the tank?
Ho, ho!

The tank is now 90 gallons. [t's
the third tank we've had to buy in
the three years since my beloved

K.UAN. OISTRICT

RE-ELEST

“ERNIE CRIST

one Drought dressy two little
loonie-sized creatures home, back
when the Teenage Ninja Mutant
Turtle craze was peaking.

We both shower afterwards, but
we spend a couple of hours once a
month getting drenched it turtle
befouled walter, no matter how
Auty pumps we install,

Sure enough, when 1 finally
tracked clown The General Care
aad Maintenance of Red-Bared
Sliders, by Phillipe De Vosjoli (
had to send to California,
wouldn't you know), the author
warned that @ 1984 survey by the
Ontario Minisiry of Health
revealed that 74% of pet store
turtle tanks tested positive for
salmonella, and that the United
States Food and Drug Ad-
ministration has cafied the red-
eared slider trade an iniportant
potential route for the global
communication of human sal-
monellosis,

TENE Ter EE RI

What now? We not only want
to release the turtles for their own
sake, we want to get cid of them
us a health measure

Mut Canadian law forbids the
exportor import of turtles (ours
were hatched here), so even if we
were willing -—- und we are, believe
ine ~= (0 have them shipped back
to the warm swamps of the old
homeland, we're likely going to be
blocked by bureaucracy.

Anybody with exotic imported
turtles should know what kind of
massive long-term commitment
these creatures require,

With 30 years ahead of them,
they'll outlive me, that's almost
for sure. We virtually have to
provide for them in our will.

I'm going to try to arrange to
send the cuctles home, and if that
works, we'll talk about the birds.
I'll keep you posted. Bet it's im-

ible, begally.

Re-Elect for her 4th Term
COUNCILLOR

PAT BONAME

:
An active knowledgeable concerned
citizen of West Vancouver

3

~ MISSION

ACCO!

IPLISHED |

*SECTION OF MINUTES FROM FEB. 11/91,
DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER MEETING -

9. NOTICES OF MOTION

a) Environmental protection and Tree Preservation Bylaw..

Moved by Ald. CRIST,

Seconded by Ald. HARRIS and

CARRIED THAT staff be asked to prepare a comprehensive *
environmental protection and tree preservation bylaw defining -
precise development guidelines geared to protect the
environment and ecology in the District of North Vancouver.

AND THAT such a bylaw cover rules pertaining to:

(i) development in floodplains, distance of potential development to creeks and rivers both active and
inactive, ravines, and foreshore areas, as well as guidelines pertaining to existing grade of ravines, hills and

other ecologically sensitive areas plus relevance geotechnical factors; and

(ii) the protection of trees and/or incorporate our existing tree protection bylaw in such a new bylaw and,
if possible, take into consideration factors falling into the category of aesthetics; and

(iii) if necessary, avail themselves of the services of environmental experts and environmental groups and
organizations such as the Western Wilderness Society, to use as an example; and

(iv) to vigorously pursue the hiring of a full time environmental control officer to be directly responsible

to the Manager and Council; and

(v) report back to Council by no later than April 1, 1991 on an appropriate timetable to implement this

resolution.

A FULL-TIME ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OFFICER WAS HIRED IN AUGUST 1992 AND
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT WAS PASSED ON NOV, 8, 1993.

FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL JUDGE US BY THE DEGREE OF PRUDENCE AND FORESIGHT WE HAVE
DISPLAYED AND NOT BY WHAT IS CONVENIENT FOR THE DAY

MBER 20, YOUR VOTE REALLY DOES COUNT