I realize you have some control over the questions. But should it come up again, I might try to steer it this way: 


A1:  Wow, you were lucky. I had a friend whose budgie was grabbed by a hawk 90 seconds after accidently escaping (my story, true; we all have horror tales). 


A2: That's amazing. Your mom obviously understood the importance of giving birds time out of their cages. Many people think birds can stay in their cages 24 hours a day, which for a bird is especially cruel. Or sometimes they may let them out without safeguarding against all the special hazards birds face in the home. What happened to your robin happens every day to birds in homes across the US because people don't take proper precautions. 


Obviously we're giving you more than you possibly can say. Just want to provide a bunch of material depending on the tack she takes. Having watched another of your interviews, P., I am not too worried. 



-----Original Message-----
From: pblau@sonic.net
Sent: May 24, 2011 9:17 AM
To: Mickaboo media advisor team
Subject: Re: [Media-advisors] Your thoughts?

>From the dept. of "Oh, Great...", my interviewer said that she had a budgie when she was little, and her mother trained it to fly out the window & come back when called.  (sigh)  Thankfully this did not, apparently, result in a hawk attack (or any other of numerous hideous deaths).   However, sadly, they also raised a robin from an egg they found, and taught it the same thing.  When they went on vacation, it tried to fly back in thru the window as usual, and broke its neck. 

:(




On Tue 05/24/11 1:01 AM , Mary Long <atechi2@yahoo.com> wrote:

On a positive note:
 
We can remind folks that there have been numerous children/people who's lives have been influenced/changed by having budgies during childhood (many of ourselves included).  Where might the world of avian cognition be without Dr. Irene Pepperberg if her childhood (and young adulthood) hadn't been spent with budgies?  Would we have had the same of storyteller in Stephen Spielberg (or ET) if he didn't grow up with budgies? 
 


--- On Mon, 5/23/11, Jonathan Harris <jonathanharris@earthlink.net> wrote:

From: Jonathan Harris <jonathanharris@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [Media-advisors] Your thoughts?
To: pblau@sonic.net, "Mickaboo media advisor team" <media-advisors@mickaboo.org>, "Mickaboo media advisor team" <media-advisors@mickaboo.org>
Date: Monday, May 23, 2011, 8:50 PM

This might be a good context in which to deconstruct the "parakeet as starter pet" illusion.


Q: "Many parents have to respond at some point to their children's pleas to have a pet. They may feel that a dog or even a cat is too demanding, too much work, or too big for their home. And they may say to themselves, What about a bird? A parakeet is small, and inexpensive to buy and care for. It can stay happily in its cage and not make a mess all over the house, while the child learns responsibility and about the animal. Wouldn't something like a parakeet make an ideal starter pet?" 

-----Original Message-----
From: pblau@sonic.net
Sent: May 23, 2011 7:33 PM
To: Mickaboo media advisor team
Subject: Re: [Media-advisors] Your thoughts?


Good ideas, I'm going to go with this.
p

On Mon 05/23/11 4:12 PM , Michelle Yesney <msyesney@gmail.com> wrote:

And it's a chance to emphasize the positive aspects of the differences.  Many people like the idea of a long-lived pet, for example.  I had a talk with a woman recently whose husband said no more pets because she was so traumatized when they died.  Ironically, he was the next to die and she is thinking about getting a bird.


 
On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 4:07 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat <1217@vhrovat.org> wrote:

Thanks for doing this. Since they have never discussed birds before, the differences between dogs/cats and birds as pets seems like a good place to start. You might also mention the similarities, specifically the breeding mills and overpopulation crisis. People have heard about these over and over again for dogs and cats but might not be aware that the problems exist for birds too.

 

--VH

 

From: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org [mailto:media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of pblau@sonic.net
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 2:59 PM
To: Media Advisors - Mickaboo
Subject: [Media-advisors] Your thoughts?

 

Hi folks,
There's a 5-minute radio (internet) interview that I'll be doing this Wednesday.  I thought I'd ask this group what they think the best (short) topic might be.  The couple that runs this "Pet Patrol" show in the Half Moon Bay region has mostly done things on dogs & cats, no birds yet.  So it's really an intro, more than anything else, and perhaps we'll get called back.

I'm able to submit the question(s) to her for our response.  Some ideas could be:

- the difference between a dog and/or cat as a pet v. a bird
- why get your bird from a bird rescue-- aren't they damaged?
- what's the best thing about bird ownership?

or things along that line.  I don't want to be a 5-minute negative Nellie (don't do this!  watch out for that!)-- I'm thinking upbeat, to be positive, etc.
Let me know if you have any ideas.

p









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