My sister’s life on the line: bird or human, bird or human
I must preface this story with a reason for my title. Hopefully you can tell by my blog that I am pro birds and pro birdhouses!! Hopefully what I am about to ask/say next will not send you into a bout of heart palpitations. Is a bird’s life ever more valuable than a human? Well most of you would probably say a human’s life is more valuable but can we ever overprotect? I am not an ethicist or a philosopher just a regular person who like birds and loves people!!!
Here is a story from my sister who is in New Zealand right now. I have copy and pasted exactly what she wrote to me in our last correspondance.”When I went ice climbing in Franz Josef there was an alpine parrot, Kea, that nearly killed us. They are really intelligent, mean, but still they are protected. I watched as one of these birds ripped open a guides backpack with his razor sharp beak. There were three of them that tried to get to our guides pack while we were climbing. It was a really nerve racking situation when the birds were trying to get to the ropes that secure you from falling. So we tried to chunck ice balls at them so we could escape this fate….Needless to say we were victorious. No keas were harmed in the process.”I think the ice balls idea was great and one I know PETA would support =) I just have to say for the record if the ice balls had not detered them could I have been arrested if I chose to blow one up with something a little stronger. What if it had attacked my children(who hopefully as a wise mother I hadn’t taken to the top of a cliff =)) would the law make an exception for the valuableness of a humen life.
Here are some Kea facts: As the world’s only Alpine parrot, it is known as the “feathered wolf” because it has killed sheep and other small farm animals. The keas were then killed for many years by hunters hired by local farmers who were tired of their livestock perishing at the cunning of a kea-this is why they are now protected. Kea’s are super smart and get bored very easily, hence their “weird” behavior of stealing parts off of cars or ripping open backpacks.(Someone should teach the keas to knit or something). Males and females are green with some red feathers around their neck. They nest on the ground usually with 2-4 eggs per season. After 29 days the babies hatch and the males help feed them after they are a month old. Besides farm animals Keas also eat normal bird food like leaves, insects and bugs =) Because the Keas live in such a harsh climate they need the extra fat that the animal remains provide. (Its one thing to picture bird-of-prey eating a typical fleshy meal but another to picture a cute green parrot ripping open a lamb-hmmm)
So despite the propensity for destruction people swear that they are a fun loving bird. I don’t think I will be bringing one into my home anytime soon!!
