By Steven Carl Baldwin Brooklyn Parrots – http://www.brooklynparrots.com
Update on Endangered Wild Quaker Parrots of Yacolt, Washington
A quick update from Yacolt, Washington. My correspondent tells me that the situation there remains tense. Yacolt City officials refuse to allow artificial nest platforms for the homeless parrots to be constructed: they want the parrots removed, and will kill any remaining there past a date certain.
Neither the power company (Clark County Public Utilities, AKA “PUD”) nor the town will tolerate the presence of wild parrots in Yacolt, so the only hope for those who want to save them is to capture them and relocate them to a town willing to accept them.
There will be a gathering of bird groups and bird rescuers in Yacolt this weekend to discuss the stand-off. In the meantime, a grass-roots group, the Yacolt Quaker Parrot Preservation Association, has been formed to fight the wild parrot eradication effort. A Rapid Response Team from the Quaker Parakeet Society has been dispatched to inspect the situation on the ground and in the air.
There are a lot of raw emotions in Yacolt tonight. My correspondent writes: “I was very heart broken listening to the people. They love those parrots so much and they are so angry that the city didn’t informed them on what their plans were. I had an old lady cry in my arms. She doesn’t want these birds to leave or die. They are all she has in life right now.”
My hope is that officials in the City of Yacolt change their mind, but I know that a lot of people don’t really have much feeling for the natural world, and some people just don’t like animals. Maybe Yacolt is just one of those places.
What’s clear is that if the majority of people of Yacolt and their elected leadership don’t want wild parrots flying free in their city, the parrots won’t be around for much longer. It’s too bad, because the presence of these wonderful birds was already making Yacolt a popular stop-over for parrot-watchers. As one resident declared, “the parrots put Yacolt on the map.”
There will certainly be more news to report soon. Right now, all I can say is that I’m very glad that our civic leaders in Brooklyn, including Borough President Marty Markowitz, have a different viewpoint, and recognize that having wild parrots around is a wonderful thing.
For more on the Endangered Wild Quaker Parrots of Yacolt, Washington, see:
- BREAKING NEWS: Wild Parrot Killings Halted in Washington State
- RED ALERT: Wild Parrots in Washington State Are Being Killed by U.S.D.A., Clark County Public Utilities
- Wild Monk Parrots Popping Up in Yacolt, WA
Labels: Animal Cruelty, Anti-Parrot Pogroms, USDA, Washington State Parrots, Yacolt
