Categories: uncategorized
Date: 20 August 2007 10:18:15
Hurricane Dean is heading towards my nephew and his family in the Caribbean. We pray that they'll be safe.
One aspect of it, though, has already brought heartache to him, and to us as we think of it.
He's a wildlife expert, a conservationist working for the government out there.
It's customary to slaughter non-indigenous parrots (quite brutally by firebombing the nests, apparently) which he found himself unable to do. So he gathered the young parrots and raised them by hand, managing to get financial grant support to pay for a veterinary expert to come from the USA to neuter the parrots when they're old enough before releasing them back into the wild. The time is nearly right for them to be neutered.
But
with Hurricane Dean due to hit them today, there's a risk that the parrots might escape before being neutered. They are non-indigenous and would seriously endanger the indigenous parrot population. There would be a real risk of their cage being damaged in the high winds and its a risk he daren't take. So yesterday my soft-hearted nephew had to force himself to kill them. Every one of them. Each bird rescued and lovingly raised by hand to adulthood. Poor parrots. And poor, poor M.
Please remember in your prayers all those in the path of Hurricane Dean this week, especially those in Haiti who have already lost far more than parrots.