By Charlie • March 29, 2010
http://10000birds.com/birding-guyana-with-foster-parrots.htm
Early last year we ran a series of posts on parrots (Parrot Month on 10,000 Birds) which included articles on wild parrots, the threats they face, the pet trade, and the heroes and heroines (and I use the words deliberately) who work so hard to look after ‘rescued pets’ and to educate the public about the realities of what owning these hyper-intelligent and long-lived birds can entail.
One of the rescue centres we looked at was Rockland, MA-based Foster Parrots Ltd, which is run by Marc Johnson and Karen Windsor. Not only do these two heroic people work all the hours God sends to look after other people’s unwanted birds, they also have set up and financed a project in Guyana which aims to give local communities an alternative to logging their forest home.
The project has developed into a fantastic example of how small indigenous communities can benefit from eco-tourism IF that tourism is set up to benefit them and the local wildlife. We here at 10,000 Birds have been wondering how we could get ourselves out to Guyana (or us and a group of bloggers to Guyana?) with Marc and Karen, but fortunately while we’ve been vacillating renowned bird welfare expert Greg Glendell has not only been out to see the setup for himself, but also then offered to write about his experiences for 10,000 Birds now he’s returned.
It’s not quite the same as being there yourself of course, but it’s not a bad second best…
http://10000birds.com/birding-guyana-with-foster-parrots.htm
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http://guyana.freeparrots.org//article.php/20101020181421459