My Nonprofit Reviews

This organization has recently put out a letter asking for positive reviews and defending what they call their "safe hold" method. This safe hold method is used in research and for banding when a bird is meant to be in hand for a short amount of time and then released. The videos that have been around of these birds being swung around in front of groups to get them to flap their wings and appear "wild" is just apalling. As a licensed falconer and a professional for 15 years in the zoological field and who also works in raptor rehabilitation, I am very disappointed in this organization. I am even more saddened that after USFWS stepped in and asked them to start handling their birds differently with the use of jesses, they are still trying to defend their methods! Also, in this carefully worded letter they have stated while wearing the jesses and anklets the birds are falling off the glove and hanging from the gloves where they can injure their legs. Now, the job of the educator/trainer is to guide and teach that bird on how to stand on the glove. Their birds had never had this training obviously and a bird that has been trained using positive reinforcement can find a gloved hand a very positive and comfortable place to be. Which is why at ANY other zoological facility or other bird of prey rehab centers train their raptors to stand comfortably on a glove. You will see these birds stretch their wings and legs on the glove, rouse (when they shake and fluff up their feathers) and even preen their feathers (grooming). These are all comfort behaviors in birds. Behaviors they only show when they feel safe and content with their environment. If after all this time their birds are STILL bating off of the glove and not standing comfortably, they are not understanding the basics of positive reinforcement training and need to seek help from other professionals. Many of us in this field are constantly working on our professional development and seeking knowledge from others in our field. This group does not want to seek advice and knowledge from other professionals in their line of work and also state other professionals as being their competitors. Now, I guess I have always felt we all need to work together because we all are in this for the same reasons. We arent making lots of money here, we are doing this for the welfare of these birds. We should not see ourselves as competitors. This organization also states it doesn't like having the birds on a glove because it gives the general public the idea it is acceptable to have these birds as pets. This is ridiculous and as good educators they should be able to teach the general public the difference. These people are very entertaining and charismatic and it is easy for many to believe what they are doing is acceptable. Please do your research before supporting this organization. If they can't be willing to seek help with the training of their raptors and are attempting to go back to their previous methods all their licenses need to be revoked.