Dear WWF,
I am deeply disturbed by your section Can I buy a pet parrot without endangering wild parrot populations?
The very suggestion that parrots are pets, or make good pets, is disingenuous and simply serves to perpetuate a cruel and morally reprehensible practice. As a wildlife protector, the WWF should be educating people on why parrots and other wild animals should not be captured and forced into a life of servitude for ignorant and uncompassionate humans. Instead, you tacitly imply that owning a parrot is OK, so long as it is captive-bred, thereby saving the wild stocks.
Parrots and other wild creatures are not simply a commodity to be managed - so long as we don't endanger their existence in the wild, it is fine to subjugate any non-human animal? I think not, and to reiterate, it is highly irresponsible of your organization to promote parrots as pets. Given the huge numbers of homeless pet parrots in the US, the only acceptable method for obtaining a parrot is adoption, and only after substantial research has been undertaken by the potential guardian.
The really unfortunate part is that the remainder of the article is actually well-written and informative. You let yourselves down with your failure to appreciate that wildlife preservation is so much more than keeping some animals in the wild - it is about respecting the interests and integrity of other species, far beyond the self-serving pragmatism of maintaining the numbers. Would you have included that final section if the species were lions or tigers or chimpanzees, other species that are entirely inappropriate for domestication, yet sometimes kept as "pets"?
Please smarten up, and don't be watching the letter box for any further donations from me.
T Jonathan Martin
Lenny's Lair Cockatiel Rescue
Calgary AB Canada
