Watch Parrots to Help Parrots, in Five Easy Steps ( and please cross post to anyone who might enjoy)

Dear WPT Members and Supporters,

A few months ago, the World Parrot Trust started a channel on YouTube as a way of making some of our video content available to a worldwide audience.  We haven’t really started to promote that site, but it has already been well received by the YouTube community - surprise, surprise, everyone likes parrots.  About 300-500 people visit each day and we’re just clicking over 30,000 views to date which we’re quite happy about.

The great thing about YouTube is that anyone can have fun watching parrots being the beautiful and brilliant beasts that they are, and by doing so they help raise our profile as an organization and help drive traffic to Parrots.org as well.  Please take a few minutes in the coming days to visit us on YouTube and have fun checking out all the parrot videos we’ve put up there.

BUT ... there’s always a but ... while you’re there, please also take a few seconds to make your visit really count ... here’s how:

1. Sign up to YouTube which takes seconds ... you don’t need to use your real name and they ask very little of you to sign up.  Just go to http://www.youtube.com/ and click on “Sign Up” at the top of the page, it really does just take a few seconds.

2. Once you’re registered and logged in, then you can start viewing videos and have your viewing really count.  Start here http://www.youtube.com/parrotsdotorg where you’ll find about 55 parrot videos ... click on any of those to watch and enjoy.

3. OK, now here’s where your visit really begins to count and help parrots ... when you’re watching a video (and you’re logged in) you can rate what you’re watching by clicking on the red stars - please be honest as we need to know what you like and don’t like.  You can comment on what you’re seeing, ask questions, respond to other comments, etc..  You can also click on the “favorite” tab to add that video to your list of favorites.  Here’s the important part, every time you do any of these things, you help the Trust by making us and our videos more prominent on YouTube and on the web in general.

If you get really serious, you can create your own playlist and add our videos to that, and then you can share your enthusiasm for a given video by clicking on one of those buttons which are popping up everywhere on the web (myspace, facebook, digg, etc).

4. Tell a friend, or better yet, tell ten friends.  We can only get the message out to so many people, but all of you who have received this message surely know ten other people who would enjoy watching parrot videos, right?  A message from you means a lot and will really help drive lots of traffic and enthusiasm for our work ... and the good thing is, it’s all good fun for a good cause and there is no money, letter writing, or any other activities like that ... just watching parrots, nothing but pleasure.

5. Tell us what you think about all this - either by commenting on videos, commenting on our channel, or sending us emails about what you’re seeing, what you wish you could see, etc.  In the coming months and years, we’re hoping to put up all sorts of new and different parrot related stuff here, maybe including member videos, etc.. So, we’re more than open to suggestions and we love to get feedback.

All best wishes,

Jamie

This attached link is to a fascinating Animal Planet program featuring Dr. Irene Pepperberg and Alex’s successor Griffin:

http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch?video=42569

Here’s some exciting news regarding research into the causes of PDD, the macaw wasting disease, forwarded from the Seattle Parrots Yahoo Group:

----- Forwarded Message ---- Hello everyone,

A few months ago I posted the initial results of PDD research funded by Lahser Interspecies Research Foundation and conducted by Joe DeRisi, Ph.D and his team at Howard Hughes Institute at the University of California at San Francisco. This lab’s micro array is currently the most sophisticated and comprehensive viral identification system in the world. 

Susan Clubb took an early interest in our work and has been able provide the lab with tissue samples from infected birds. Bobbi Robinson’s Living With PDD group was also a valuable source of specimen samples.  About a year into the research a unique virus was identified in the affected specimens. Not only is this new virus an exciting discovery for the scientific world, it may well prove to be the cause of PDD. 

I didn’t have permission to disclose the type of virus at the time, but I’m excited and happy to say that the manuscript has been accepted for publication in the highly respected Virology Journal and will be published in the next few days. The title is “Recovery of divergent avian bornaviruses from cases of proventricular dilatation disease: a promising lead in the search for an etiologic agent”. An AP release will be out shortly and Susan Clubb will present the findings at the AAV meeting.

The family of Bornaviruses has been around for a long time but Bornavirus A is new and is turning up in confirmed PDD samples, not in the controls. More samples need to be studied, but because the symptoms of Bornavirus in other animal species closely resembles PDD in Psittacines, the evidence points strongly to Bornavirus A as the cause of PDD.

Published Bornavirus studies are readily available on the internet and I urge you all to have a look.

More PDD samples have to be studied before we can say without a doubt that Bornavirus A causes PDD.  We’re not asking for monetary contributions, only blood, stool and tissue samples from birds highly suspected of having PDD. If you are willing to help, we will send collection kits with RNA safe fixative at no charge to your veterinarian.  Please note that samples MUST be preserved in our collection kits, so they should be in your vet’s possession well before your scheduled visit. You can contact me at katy@hornbeamaviary .com or phone me at 419-271-4140 with your vet’s address. I am not a scientist but I will be happy to forward any questions you have to the proper source.

As a cockatoo breeder for almost 30 years, I have lived with the worry that every new breeder bird that I acquire could have PDD. A fecal test for Bornavirus A is already available, and I am thrilled that this fear may soon be behind us.

Best regards,
Katy McElroy
Lahser Interspecies Research Foundation

Hi there, I just recently joined the WPT!! hooray for me!! I have 2 companion parrots and about to adopt a third. We obtained an Eccy that was stray and hanging around our house for months. I think he followed the rainbow lorries to our bird bath on our deck. He finally fell in love with my retired father and moved in. He was really underweight and in poor condition. No chip, no ring, and no “lost” adds meant he had a new home.
I work for the RSPCA and I am one of two - three staff members out of many that have a love of birds. Thats how I ended up with Jazz my Galah. She was seized by an inspector - brought in, in a “Cocky” Cage 2’ x 2’ galvanised prison. No perches, no toys, no food, and a rusty can with stale green water. She was underweight with a massive tumor. I pushed for the shelter to remove the lump and I adopted her the day of her surgery. She recovered at my house. the lump weighed 80 grams. She’s so sweet, everybody loves her, and I’ve had an in depth conversation with Jim McKendry about foraging and now she thinks every day is Christmas.
I’m about to adopt a 35yo feather plucking cockatoo. Not so bad, just a bare keel, and damaged feathers on chest. Surrendered in the same condition as the Galah, but had to be cut out of the cage as the door was too small to get him out. If anybody has advice on introducing the galah to the cocky, or advise on breaking feather plucking it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Nicky

Hello Nicky: Welcome aboard! One thing anyone who has a feather plucking parrot wants to do is get it vet checked to make sure there is no medical condition causing the plucking. Otherwise distractions, distractions, distractions. Keep the bird focused on something other than the feather plucking.

Thanks for your advice. Before he comes home he’ll be tested for PBFD and Psittacosis, dont want to risk my other babies. I’ll get one of our avian vets to give him a good going over before hand too. It sounds like I’ll be investing a lot of money on Birdy Einstein toys.

More exciting news about research into the causes of PDD, the macaw wasting disease:

http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/200807295