Abstract
These are only a few of the sayings that people are telling me since the latter part of April when I borrowed money from some friends and we bought our first Rosey Bourkes along with a few pairs of finches, some Diamond Doves and a Bluehead Pionus from an importer. These dealings were all done over the phone with a These are only a few of the sayings that people are telling me since the latter part of April when I borrowed money from some friends and we bought our first Rosey Bourkes along with a few pairs of finches, some Diamond Doves and a Bluehead Pionus from an importer. These dealings were all done over the phone with a am not sure what was wrong with the new birds and I have a reputation to look out for.Now even I have to say to myself, "Sucker you have been took." So here I am, four months later, about $2500 deeper in debt and hopefully a lot wiser to the fact that dealers are not the place to buy birds from, especially if they also happen to be an importer. I will never be able to open my bird shop again because there does not seem to be any reputable dealers out there to buy from. Also all my finances went down the drain with a couple hundred dollars of phone calls trying to find out how to recoup some of my loss on the 4 dead Rasey Bourkes, 2 split to Rasey and Yellow Bourkes, 4 Zebra Finches, 4 Society Finches and 14 baby red factor canaries. At this point it looks as if the Department of Agriculture may have to come in and put down all the birds I have on my place. This would include all my cage birds and all my pheasant collection if the test they have run shows the results they suspect.
Some of the things I cannot understand about this whole situation is these birds came directly to me from the quarantine facilities. I received these birds the next day after release, according to the dealer. Now really, what good are these quarantine places if the dealers are allowed to sell birds in a sickly condition? My loss is so much greater than just my initial purchase price and the fact I also got sick after I had these birds in my care for a short time. My mental anguish was as bad as feeling sick due to the fact that I had waited 10 years to buy my first Rasey Bourke and have to watch them die knowing full well I will not be able to afford to buy any more on my small pension.
So now its "bye, bye" to my beautiful dream of having a Rasey of my own and no more ''Buy, Buy Birdie" from import dealers. Please remember ''BUYER BEWARE" whether it be from a dealer, importer or a pet store. It's really a ''CRUEL, CRUEL WORLD OUT THERE." I3ut for the grace of God making me realize these birds were sick, I might have sold some of these birds to a customer and spread the sickness.
P.S. This story is a true story that happened to me the spring of 1992. I hope you find you can use it to make people aware [hat this type of thing goes on more often than people know.e