Shocked and Horrified by eBay Listing

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Senegal1964

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Mar 27, 2015
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Senegal Parrot "Hughy"
This morning as I was searching eBay for Senegal Parrot related items, as I, like most other parrot lovers are crazy about their feathered family members and can't seem to get enough parrot artwork, keychains, vases, etc. I came across a sold listing, seen below that left me absolutely shocked and horrified and after some careful cooling down time, on the phone to eBay.

Natural Senegal P...
Item no: 281590409428
Seller: fatherof03
Listing date: 05/02/15
End date: 12/02/15
$_1.jpg

This individual was selling off the wings and tail of a Senegal Parrot that had according to him died of natural causes, listing that the feathers could be used for fly tying, arts and crafts, native art work, etc. They sold for approximately $38 US and there was a bidding war between 11 eBay members. I called eBay and questioned this particular item and gave my reasons for the inappropriateness of this listing. The service agent referred to their policies and apparently they don't have any concerns about this listing and people can sell the wings and tail, but not body parts and sounded rather unconcerned about this. So I asked her, "So does this mean that it's o.k. for someone to be selling their dog's or cat's tail on eBay for flying tying and arts and crafts", well that woke her up. She quickly responded that absolutely no, people can not sell their dog's or cat's tail on eBay. So I asked her "What's the difference?" She didn't have an answer. Apart from the disgust I have for this previous parrot owner who's final act was to hack off his bird's wings and tail and turn a buck from it on eBay, my concern is that off in African, South America, Indonesia, etc someone may happen across this listing and think to themselves that there is money to be made from the slaughter of these birds. I can't have that. I hope I finally made my point with the customer service agent because she said they would look at this type of listing at their next meeting. I doubt anything is going to happen unless people speak up. As I sit here typing, my lovely little Senegal Hughy roosting on my forearm preening and swaying with the gentle back and forth of my keystrokes, I couldn't imagine what was going through Fatherof03's mind when he was disassembling his bird. Two weeks ago, a Sharp Shinned Hawk hit the window going after some of the Juncos that were feeding close to the house and broke it's neck, the Sharp Shinned Hawk's body is wrapped up in fabric in a plastic bag in the freezer awaiting burial. At no point did the thought to lop off it's wings and tail and sell them on eBay cross my mind, nor would it ever and this is a wild bird to which I have no emotional attachment, other than I love and respect birds . So this is my question. Am I wrong? Am I making too much of this listing? Or do other people feel as angered and concerned as I am? :mad: Thank you for reading this post.
 

AryoAsh

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I share your feelings. I could see if the person had loose feathers they wanted to keep for sentimental reasons or to sell for art. But cutting off the wings and tail in that matter is completely brutal.
 

JerseyWendy

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Jul 20, 2012
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No, I don't think you are over-reacting. It's a crying shame what folks resort to in order to make a few bucks.

FYI, if you search 'taxidermy birds' on eBay, you may be in for additional shocks. :52:

And welcome to the forums!!
 

Puck

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Mar 8, 2015
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Somehow this freaks me out even more than taxidermy birds. I guess because you send a creature out to a taxidermist to do that dirty work, but I am assuming this guy hacked off the tail and wings himself. YUCK. Like Wendy said, okay, maybe using feathers or what not, but this is just plain CREEPY. If you want to make a craft that has bird wings, just get some paper mache, make a base, buy some feathers, and make some wings! (AKA, CRAFT IT!) Ugh. My guess is that eBay doesn't get that wings aren't just feathers, that they are attached to the body in the same way a dog has legs.

Did I say yuck? I can't believe someone bought this.
 

Scott

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Utterly disgraceful and disgusting, IMHO. While I have no doubt it apparently complies with eBay's policies, you were morally correct to raise the flag and pursue the issue.
 

sunblaze

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You are definitely not out of order feeling angry over that listing. I think you made a very good point about this catching on in the native countries of our beloved birds and them having yet another factor to contend with along with such issues as deforestation, illegal pet trade and other man made problems that have caused most species of parrot to end up on the endangered list.

The other point you made was that if this was a more commonly kept pets arpentage it would most certainly not be acceptable, people would be in uproar! i've seen a few things like this on ebay like lucky rabbits feet charms from actual rabbits and other dubious items.

This post struck a chord with me as earlier i was reading "Cage & Aviary" magazine (a local aviculture magazine we get in Britain) and at the back in the classifieds was a post that read: "Dead Birds Wanted" in bold, it was a taxidermist looking for shall we say raw materials. The ad unsettled me, don't get me wrong i don't think there is anything wrong with taxidermy, but this wasn't someone offering a service to bereaved pet owners, this was cold cut business and i think advertising like this in a magazine aimed at pet owners not breeders is very unprofessional and downright disrespectful.

I'm glad you had the courage to ring ebay, even if you only gave them a piece of your mind at least you made it known that this is not ok, well done =)
 
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Senegal1964

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I'm not sure what my next course of action will be. Boycott eBay perhaps, like that will make any difference. Thank you for the validation everyone. People that don't have a parrot or parrots as part of their family group really don't comprehend the bond we have with our bird. What a wonderful group, glad I found it.
 

Taw5106

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What about sending this to PETA or the news?
 

jasper19

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Aug 13, 2014
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I can completely see why this posting upsets you.

To me i guess it does matter how the bird died. I have seen posting for complete pheasant tails for sale before. Also, i am a hunter. We eat what we hunt, i have a pheasant tail up in my gun room. Is that wrong to do?

Granted cutting off your pets tail and wings to me is completely different then doing it to something that is hunted. I think it shows how considerate that person is for their pets, not seeing them as family.
 

sonja

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This topic comes up now and then and perhaps I'm weird but I always wonder why this gets such heated attention yet look at all of the leather items for sale. They are made out of the SKIN of a cow who did not die of natural causes! I'm not criticizing your feelings I just wonder at the dichotomy.
 

Kiwibird

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Jul 12, 2012
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Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I searched it by the item number and some vile sicko has already purchased it. It brought up some "similar" items though, and there are the wings of many parrots for sale on ebay!

I am a member on a vegetarian/vegan forum, and will definitely be raising this concern on that forum. I hope enough people will bombard them with complaints that they make selling the limbs of animals against their policy. This is just horrible.

This topic comes up now and then and perhaps I'm weird but I always wonder why this gets such heated attention yet look at all of the leather items for sale. They are made out of the SKIN of a cow who did not die of natural causes! I'm not criticizing your feelings I just wonder at the dichotomy.

Because very few people care about the lives or right of cows. They don't care about chickens, pigs, geese, ducks, turkeys or fish. They don't care about foxes, chinchillas or rabbits either. In fact, they only care about dogs and cats. Start hacking off dog/cat limbs and only THEN will people have a problem with animal torture and abuse:mad: This is not the forum in which to express my full opinion on speciesists, but I find it to be an archaic mindset that has NO PLACE in a civilized society.
 

Kiwibird

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So I just got off the phone with Ebay and the lady I spoke to said the only thing they allow is taxidermy (which is a whole other topic), but she reassured me that bird tails and wings are definitely not allowed. I gave the item number for this listing and they will be taking action against the sellers account for listing this. If anyone encounters this kind of thing, the lady I spoke to said to report the listing immediately.
 
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Senegal1964

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Senegal Parrot "Hughy"
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This topic comes up now and then and perhaps I'm weird but I always wonder why this gets such heated attention yet look at all of the leather items for sale. They are made out of the SKIN of a cow who did not die of natural causes! I'm not criticizing your feelings I just wonder at the dichotomy.
@Sonja
I guess the main difference is that commercially, people still eat meat. Meat = cows = leather as a by-product. You can't compare that to some lunatic chopping off his pet parrot's wings after it died of so called "natural causes". It makes me wonder what he classified as natural causes of the bird's death? Neglect? Abuse? Not feeding it? Leaving it alone while him and his family of three kids went off quail hunting? His cat or dog got hold of it and killed it? The bottom line is this was not a game bird, this was a pet. There is no dichotomy here. I highly doubt anyone would wear shoes or carry a hand bag made of dog or cat hide. Could you imagine the uproar on eBay? Why is there not a similar uproar over someone cutting off their pet's wings and tail and turning that misfortune for the pet into a profit. Who does that to their pet? I think you're coming completely from a vegan point of view and I respect your choice. But a cow/calf/goat/buffalo that's been slaughtered for meat to be eaten and then the leather being used is no where near to this travesty.
 

Kiwibird

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But a cow/calf/goat/buffalo that's been slaughtered for meat to be eaten and then the leather being used is no where near to this travesty.

I'd bet good money that the bird had a better life and was treated with more dignity and respect before it's death than a livestock animal in a US factory farm. They are guaranteed to be tortured and severely abused before meeting a violent death, then getting ruthlessly hacked up. The bird probably had *some* quality of life before it passed and got hacked up. I find the act of hacking up a dead animal vile regardless of species personally.

I don't want to get on this topic though. Few things make me as upset as the treatment livestock receives.
 
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Senegal1964

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So I just got off the phone with Ebay and the lady I spoke to said the only thing they allow is taxidermy (which is a whole other topic), but she reassured me that bird tails and wings are definitely not allowed. I gave the item number for this listing and they will be taking action against the sellers account for listing this. If anyone encounters this kind of thing, the lady I spoke to said to report the listing immediately.
@Kiwibird
Thank you so much for joining your voice with mine against this listing on eBay! I hope this will hopefully curtail anymore of this in the future. You must have spoken with an eBay customer service rep who's a bird lover.
 
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Senegal1964

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There seems to be some digression of this post, it's gone from the abuse of a pet bird's body to the unforunate and terrible life of animals raised for meat consumption. I'm not going to disagree with any of you or trivialize you're feelings on the feedlot animals. But this is not the forum for that. The forum is called "ParrotForums.com". I posted a topic on a pet parrot that had it's body parts vandalized and some of you are turning this into a whole nother topic altogether. Could we please stay on topic? I would be disappointed to see it digress into a battle between the carnivores and the vegans.
 

Kiwibird

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So I just got off the phone with Ebay and the lady I spoke to said the only thing they allow is taxidermy (which is a whole other topic), but she reassured me that bird tails and wings are definitely not allowed. I gave the item number for this listing and they will be taking action against the sellers account for listing this. If anyone encounters this kind of thing, the lady I spoke to said to report the listing immediately.
@Kiwibird
Thank you so much for joining your voice with mine against this listing on eBay! I hope this will hopefully curtail anymore of this in the future. You must have spoken with an eBay customer service rep who's a bird lover.

She didn't say it, but I got the impression they've received a few complaints already on this listing (probably from some members on here or just people who saw it and have souls) and probably just changed that policy or reviewed their definition of animal body parts. They still have other bird wings and tails (poultry and game birds) I also reported while I was at it (when I searched the listing, it brought up "similar items" since it had already ended). Apparently theres some real psychopaths out there who enjoy crafting with body parts. Buffalo Bill and the real life Ed Gein come to mind when I think of the type who'd buy this kind of thing.
 

Kiwibird

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There seems to be some digression of this post, it's gone from the abuse of a pet bird's body to the unforunate and terrible life of animals raised for meat consumption. I'm not going to disagree with any of you or trivialize you're feelings on the feedlot animals. But this is not the forum for that. The forum is called "ParrotForums.com". I posted a topic on a pet parrot that had it's body parts vandalized and some of you are turning this into a whole nother topic altogether. Could we please stay on topic? I would be disappointed to see it digress into a battle between the carnivores and the vegans.

I do apologize for getting off topic, I guess it doesn't shock me anymore the depths of depravity people will stoop when it comes to animals and I just want it to stop. This isn't even the first time I've 'seen' a family pet hacked up. A childhood friend's family did something similar. It's just a wider issue than this one bird. Strictly staying on the topic, there were more listings of bird wings and tails currently for sale on ebay beyond this one listing. It wast even an isolated vile person hacking up birds for craft projects, there seems to be a market for this kind of thing (and I will be reporting every single one I find).
 
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Senegal1964

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Senegal Parrot "Hughy"
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@Kiwibird
Would love to get involved. Have you heard of the World Parrot Refuge Society in Coombs, B.C.? Google them if you haven't. They do amazing work with rescued birds.
 

Mekaisto

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It's definitely a sign that the seller did not see his bird as a friend or companion - "just a bird". Imagine selling the body parts of your family members!

I do personally taxidermy any birds we have that pass away - it's very hard, but important for our education program. We could send them away for a stranger to taxidermy, but oddly I prefer to do it myself.
 
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