Dear Parrots magazine,
Help needed
My city of Hamilton, Ontario first made a commitment to parrots in the 1920s, when the animal house at Dundurn Castle, a historic neoclassical mansion, was transformed into an aviary. Many people have fond memories of seeing the birds in their Victorian-styled cages. Hamiltonians would visit the castle just to see the various parrots and finches. As Dundurn Castle faced extensive historical renovations in the 1990s, the birds were removed from the location they had called home for over 70 years. The City of Hamilton then decided to adopt a policy of benign neglect, eliminating all paid aviary positions and giving the care of parrots and perching birds to a group of dedicated volunteers. Henceforth, funding for the birds was reduced to minimal.
After an extensive search and several difficult moves, quarters were found in a derelict building that the RBG had recently vacated. For almost 20 years now, our parrots have lived there, a location that was poorly heated, poorly lit and shared by rodents. Despite the fact that these sub-standard conditions were made known to the City by concerned individuals and ZooCheck, a Canadian-based international wildlife protection charity, their housing remained unchanged. The volunteers strived to make the best of a bad situation. Now the City has decided to eliminate even the minimal funding it was offering. Soon, and once again, the parrots will not even have housing. I am forwarding this information to Parrots Magazine as I believe that Hamilton needs to honour its commitment to the aviary and provide accommodations that meet the criteria of best practices. Anyone interested in helping out the Hamilton aviary can contact me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thank you for your interest.
Caroline Fehr, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, by email