Catarrhal proventriculitis due to infection by an unidentified organism was diagnosed in 79 of 534 pet birds examined histologically. It was more prevalent in domestic birds (70 cases) than in imported ones (9 cases). A high incidence of the disease was encountered in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) and it was occasionally found in finches (Poephila gouldiae gouldiae), parakeets (Psittacu...

Demand for cage birds is highly prevalent and increasing across Indonesia, as wild bird populations Asia decline. To find ways to reduce demand, it important understand the motivations psychographic drivers keep (or not keep) birds, how demographic characteristics public attitudes influence such decisions. Based on surveys with over 3,000 people, we found few people citing health, sanitary, or ...

The pet trade is a major driver of both biodiversity loss and the introduction invasive alien species. Building comprehensive understanding would improve prediction conservation biosecurity threats, with aim to prevent further negative impacts. We used South Australia’s native wildlife permit reporting system as data-rich example vertebrate market, spanning 590 distinct taxa across 105 families...

PSITTICOSIS Also known as parrot fever and ornithosis, psittacosis is caused by Chlamydophila psittaci, an obligate intracellular bacterial infection of birds that can cause severe pneumonia and other serious disease in humans (on average 250 reported cases per year in the US). Most cases resulted from exposure to infected pet birds, (cockatiels, parakeets, parrots, and macaws). Infected birds ...

Birds have historically served as sentinels for human toxicity in the environment. Birds were used as sentinels for coal miners in the U.S. and England until the middle of the last century. Dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, methane and other poisonous gasses would affect sentinel canaries before they affected the miners, thus warning them of a dangerous environment. As our knowledge of avian...