possible contamination of pellets?!?
Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 2:41 pm
Okay-seems to be my day for posting news....
in a roundabout way, because of the hyacinth that was lost in S FL I ended up speaking today with Liz Johnson today. She and her husband Bob run the Shyne Foundation.
http://shynefoundation.org/
Liz and Bob provide a permanent rescue home for abused, abandoned, and unwanted parrots. There is more about their impressive backgrounds on the website. I asked Liz about the diet they feed their 130+ macaws and other large parrots. I mentioned pellets. She told me a story that has me running to Lowes for a "pick-up" magnet. There is an article at the link above called The end of the rainbow-almost -go there now and read it!!! After losing one bird and with another sick, an x-ray revealed a gizzard full of metal shavings....long story short--pellets that contain ground foods may have metal fragments from the grinding blades. Some batches more than others, some brands more than others...Harrisons switched to stainless steel blades, harder? don't contain the toxic alloys.
SO...it is obviously up to each of you to decide if, or how to address this with your own pellets. If you read the article you can read the methods they used to detect metal in bird food and even ground food from the health food store.
I did not see a date on the article and did not ask Liz when this took place-maybe it is a moot point now-I hope so-but in case it is not, now you know.
I will post my findings as soon as I get it done-hopefully tonight but relatives in town and all that-if anyone else checks please post whatever you find!
in a roundabout way, because of the hyacinth that was lost in S FL I ended up speaking today with Liz Johnson today. She and her husband Bob run the Shyne Foundation.
http://shynefoundation.org/
Liz and Bob provide a permanent rescue home for abused, abandoned, and unwanted parrots. There is more about their impressive backgrounds on the website. I asked Liz about the diet they feed their 130+ macaws and other large parrots. I mentioned pellets. She told me a story that has me running to Lowes for a "pick-up" magnet. There is an article at the link above called The end of the rainbow-almost -go there now and read it!!! After losing one bird and with another sick, an x-ray revealed a gizzard full of metal shavings....long story short--pellets that contain ground foods may have metal fragments from the grinding blades. Some batches more than others, some brands more than others...Harrisons switched to stainless steel blades, harder? don't contain the toxic alloys.
SO...it is obviously up to each of you to decide if, or how to address this with your own pellets. If you read the article you can read the methods they used to detect metal in bird food and even ground food from the health food store.
I did not see a date on the article and did not ask Liz when this took place-maybe it is a moot point now-I hope so-but in case it is not, now you know.
I will post my findings as soon as I get it done-hopefully tonight but relatives in town and all that-if anyone else checks please post whatever you find!
