NPS: From a Sanctuary to a Zoo

We understand that in March (four months ago) there was an investigation and subsequent report conducted into the National Parrot Sanctuary by Greg Glendell, who is a retired Environmental Health Officer and a professional consultant on parrot welfare.

Based upon Mr Glendell’s credentials, any report he produces should be respected and the facts therein investigated. However, the question is… Who is there to hand the reports to, when it comes to parrot welfare?

The NPS was set up as a parrot sanctuary where people could take their pet parrots once they could, for whatever reasons, no longer cope with the responsibility of caring for them. The concept of a sanctuary is an admirable one but ‘who’ is running the operation determines whether or not it is a good sanctuary, or a place of misery and cruelty for these highly sensitive and intelligent creatures.

The report Mr Glendell has produced states, in very clear terms, that the parrots living within the NPS are being held in harsh, unsanitary and unsatisfactory conditions. On the evidence it would appear to have become nothing more than a money making venture for its current owners, at the complete detriment to birds.

Some people have nowhere else to turn when the difficult decision of having to re-home their parrots and the NPS on the surface and from their hype looks like the ideal place to rehome the family pet. They have all of the credentials from government bodies endorsing them, and have even been given Zoo status which means members of the public can be charged to view the parrots living within the zoo.

People wishing to donate their bird to the NPZ are now charged a ‘quarantine fee’ of approximately £50. For most people, £50 is a small price to pay for what you believe to be, ‘peace of mind’ over the future of your beloved bird, but after several years of trading, the £50 per bird intake fee and the Zoo charge to show the birds to a viewing public, the profits have clocked up nicely. Sadly the aviaries the birds are housed in have filled up in the process too.

Some would say. filled up way beyond capacity, to the point of what has become cruel, with aviaries now in seriously run down conditions and very questionable husbandry issues.

You will have to read the report for yourself to get a clearer picture of the conditions parrots are now living in, within the NPS.

Judging from this insight of how the zoo is run, if a family rehome their beloved pet parrot that they have lived with for many years and decide at some point that they miss their pet so much that they want him/her back or that the conditions were not as expected, you would think the NPS would allow the owners pet to go back to them.

The bird was their property until they paid £50 for it to be rehomed into the sanctuary after all. This would lower the number of birds in overcrowded aviaries, and the living plight of the poor bird in question.

Below is a copy of a heartbreaking email from someone who found themselves in exactly this position and the NPZ’s response.
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Forum: How is my tick tock doing?

hi this is going to sound so still can anyone tell me if there is any way of me geting my bird back add him from few days old he 12 year old now and missing him like hell so if anyone know a way let me know i have hateing myself for sending him away i need to have him home here with me i never been married and got no kids so he was my baby can not say anymore to cut up just puting this on here so if any one know a way pz tell me thanks

Reply: Sorry, but no.

This is the reason that we tell everyone who wants to donate a bird to the Zoo, to make sure in their own mind that they are doing the right thing BEFORE they bring their bird to us.

This is solely for the birds benefit, as it is unfair and unkind to them to send them back into a cage when they have seen what a better life they can have when flying free with other birds.

In Tick-Tiock's case he has now been out in the aviary for over 4 months now, and although you may be regretting sending him here, he has made friends with other Greys, and I'm sure he wouldn't want to go back to living in a cage on his own, do you ?

Although it must be upsetting for anyone that has to part with their bird, you said in your first post that you were sending him here because you hoped he could have a better life, and that is what we hope he is getting now.
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For NPZ not to allow the parrot to go back to its original owner you have to ask the question; why not? NPZ have given their reasons for refusing this request but with a little searching a more sinister story could emerge. Anyone involved within parrot rescue knows that for a hand reared, parent deprived and human imprinted pet bird to be back in a home environment rather than an overcrowded outdoor aviary has got to be the best option for the bird in question.

So why have the NPS blocked this?

There are reports of several birds dying after being in the zoo for a short while, with until very recently, no facilities for quarantine or sick bay. The cynics among us might say this keeps the stock down and the £50s coming in on new birds!

If Greg Glendell’s report of serious failings concerning the birds currently housed at NPZ hold up under scrutiny, then action must be taken for the sake of the welfare of those birds and strict guidelines put in place to protect them in the future.

We very much look forward to seeing Mr. Glendell’s report from March finally being put into the public domain so that the parrot community can be aware of what is happening at the NPS and warn others of the conditions there. Hopefully, action will be taken for the sake of the poor birds that are now a money-making attraction for a paying pubic on behalf of their new owner who is paid £50 each time for the privilege.

From a sanctuary into a zoo.