Dana Hirschbach

Review of World Bird Sanctuary

The birds on display were tied to posts for too lo...

The birds on display were tied to posts for too long, and the enclosures were generally inadequate. The golden eagles and other predators in the cages seemed bored and depressed. The parrots and pigeons seemed content but I would like to see larger enclosures for the birds of prey with more vegetation, shade, and places for the birds to keep their distance from people, especially the owls who are shy nocturnal creatures. The surrounding park is just beautiful and I walked down to the river with nobody else there, and it was very pretty. Too bad the birds don't have more of a view of the forest and should be tucked in more into the forest. It felt like an outdoor zoo. I know it costs money to improve conditions. We need some rich donators out there to help pay for better enclosures. Someone needs to insist that they stop tying up birds to posts with only a few feet of rope like a dog. I wouldn't tether my chihuahua like that, let alone a raptor. If we want to have birds for display which is a questionable practice, then at least build better homes for these unfortunate wild creatures. I also disagree with the captive breeding of a EuroAsian owl. Poor little thing was tied to a post and just left there doing nothing. The raven was living a sad life. It did a show where it collected dollars but then they stuck it in a sad small cage by itself doing nothing but imitating the owls, which was amazing, by the way to hear a raven making hooting sounds. Ravens are awesome. Another raven was languishing in a cage outside. I think it is fine to display them but more from a distance, and not let people gawk at them all day long. What are we teaching? I know that these display raptors are injured and can't be returned to the wild but still they deserve more privacy and a better quality of life. I know that the volunteers are doing their best but whoever is in charge needs to get a clue.