Lack of Avian care in the UK?

Recently I've become more aware about the lack of Avian care within the UK. I'm aware there are Avian vets... although they appear to be a rarity. They're very few Avian charities... most appear (according to my recent research) to be inactive.

I'm very very passionate about birds and I lost my little baby girl Wonsy in Feb '10. I'm now of the opinion that there is insufficient care throughout the UK for all forms of birds.

They are shrugged asides as pets by many veterinarians. They cannot compete for the attention or care compared to their furry friends, dogs and cats, it even appears that animals such as Guinea pigs and rabbits are ranked higher than birds. Now I am not saying that these animals are insignificant at all, just that it is incredibly unfair that birds should not be considered as our household pets, alongside all the other animals they treat.

I am hoping, and this is a very long shot, to change this. To create a charity or something of that nature, to raise awareness about the care of all birds species, those that we keep as pets, to those that wander our back garden.

My aim:
- To educate people about the treatment of our birds, how to feed, how to clean, how to hold, how to socialize.
- To help people understand the risks and dangers of breeding/buying unweaned birds.
- To make Avian vets around the UK more accessible, the aim overall is to increase the amount of vets that, when brought a pretty little sun conure, knows exactly what a sun conure is, not to give basic 'general' knowledge for 'a' bird, but be able to treat them confidently in the same ways they are able to treat other pets.
- To raise awareness about the risks and dangers to our wild and domestic birds with things such as toys, garden implements (nettings, etc), toxins (such as chocolate).
- To eventually create a wonderful centre, for people to come and see our beautiful friends, learning about the different types of birds, to see how beautiful these creatures are, to hopefully eliminate this unspoken prejudice against birds.

I'm 17 years old, with barely a penny to my name to be starting to fund a charity, but I would love everyones opinions, suggestions, advise on what to do, who to speak to etc. Even just comments about it.

I'm aware it is a /very/ long shot, but I'm tired of seeing our birds in the UK suffer because of people having limited access of knowledge/care and I really would love to help people improve that.

Everythings appreciated!

Welcome to the forum Mayden, here is a link to vets in the UK that have special interest in birds, there is at least one listed in Manchester, as for starting a charity in the UK I'll leave the answers to that one to your fellow countrymen/women, good luck

Avian Vets, Parrot Vetinary Services

You are right there aren't many avian vets, this is in part due to a vet having to branch out (forgive the unintended pun) into this field which requires more years of learning and the extra costs involved. I feel that the general attitude is "if it isn't big and/or expensive it isn't worth worrying about" well that's the idea I get anyhow. The great British public seem to be obsessed with cats, we are inundated with them around here as we were in the last area where we lived (different part of the country) and being a bird person I'm not overly fond of them. In truth there is so much 99% of the population don't know regarding the keeping of birds as pets, thanks to the internet this is slowly changing.

Mayden, to open up any kind of rescue centre seems but a pipe dream to your average man in the street, the costs to start up would be beyond most people's capabilities, borrowing from a bank or similar would I think be exteremely unlikely especially for one so young as yourself but this would only be the beginning of your woes for there would be the upkeep, vets bills, paid help, bird food - the list is endless. HOWEVER having said all this there are so many other things you could do by way of helping. My biggest concern is that birds can be sold without so much as a booklet giving basic knowledge of care, healthy feeding, common illnesses, local avian vets, toxic foods and common dangerous household items. Companies selling non-stick cookware should be forced to sell with an acompanying leaflet (or even slip of paper) to outline the dangers to pet birds. The list is endless, you could begin by writing or emailing some of these companies, your local mp, the government. Set up a website or even a facebook campaign.

Good luck whatever you do and thank you for caring.

Welcome Mayden, it's fantastic you are so passionate about this.

I like MPW's idea on setting up a website, it's a much cheaper option than an actual charity, you can use it as an educational tool & have an area for people to post parrot rescues. Email all the vets you can find with a flyer for them to print out and put up in the waiting room, also ask them if they have any vets in practice that have an interest in birds that you could list - I know of several regular vets where I live who are almost as knowledgable as the AV's. Maybe contact the RSPCA for ideas.

Remember every success story started out as a dream

Thank you all for being so supportive!

I was thinking about a website and a facebook group, but not sure how to even start it... the layout, the names! etc Seriously, all suggestions welcome. I've just created a gmail account for the entire thing '[email protected]' the name of the facebook community (I think it has to be a community!) I want to be from the suggestions of everyone on here, this isn't a solo project guys!

I created the account with gmail, so eventually we could have things such as youtube tutorials about things like... wing clipping, nail clipping, things like that. (I'm generally against wing clipping, but many are not!" all directly related to this one thing. I'm looking around for a domain to host the website, which me and my friend... who has no knowledge of birds other than they tweet very loudly, is going to help me to sort out, program all little handy bits and bobs for it.

Any name suggestions or anything at all, please please post on here, I'll be posting my first post on a few other bird boards, to get some interst going and ideas flowing.

Like I said, it is a long shot, but I'm so greatful that you guys believe that something can be done : )

I was thinking about having a list of avian vets around the UK. Eventually, after the fb page and the website, I'll print 1 page (or double sided if I'm feeling rich) flyers off which I'll then send off to a ton of vets around the area, seeing if they could then in turn recommend bird owners/carers to check out the website, (eventually donate to a nice big bird center!) just so they're a little bit more informed on what to do. &maybe some more nice vets will then go that extra distance for avian care. :]

[email protected]
https://twitter.com/aviancareuk

and

Avian Care UK | Facebook

tada!
however, facebook page is with no content right now! so lets get some ideas coming to me shall we? I don't want to just ramble on about how the care in the UK needs to change, I don't want to be boring people, so we gotta make this interesting! &if people would like to upload pictures of their fids, I have no complaints!

the dummy website is up guys, i hope you all can join the facebook page or twitter and help support the cause. i'll post the link to the dummy site when we've got some decent content.

if anyone wants to post any articles, hints, tips, anything at all that you think would be useful to the site, people email [email protected]

Mayden said:

the dummy website is up guys, i hope you all can join the facebook page or twitter and help support the cause. i'll post the link to the dummy site when we've got some decent content.

if anyone wants to post any articles, hints, tips, anything at all that you think would be useful to the site, people email [email protected]

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Very Good!, I'm glad to see you were able to accomplish some of your goals and get a good start with limited resources, keep it up!

bumping this as i'm going be starting it again, huzzah.

although, perhaps... just aviancare, rather than aviancareuk. Most would be tailored around UK (naming UK charities, etc.) but I guess we could have a reference for EU/America/the rest of the world

Hey Mayden,i love to see young people involved in things like parrot care.Maybe contact some of the Parrot forums in the UK and see if they can offer any help in getting started,

Thanks I'm beginning to write articles on different things at the moment, and hopefully going to find a list of rescue centers and vets around the world so people might have a central location to go to if they need to find one!

Any charities within certain regions would probably get mentioned on there too. Last time I created the website I coded everything on my own, I've taken a cheeky way this time so i have more time to focus on the articles and whatnot.

Have you gone to the website The Association of Avian Veterinarians | Home They have a full listing of vets world wide and I have friends in the UK that all have good avian vets from this site.

lexilu said:

Have you gone to the website The Association of Avian Veterinarians | Home They have a full listing of vets world wide and I have friends in the UK that all have good avian vets from this site.

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Thanks, I'll look into that website

I don't live in the UK, but good luck!