By Feathers Together
With hurricanes Helene and Milton making landfall in Florida this month, we are reminded of the importance of having an evacuation plan in place for our feathered family members. Here in the UK we are perhaps a little complacent in the knowledge that we are unlikely to experience a hurricane, tornado or other extreme weather events such as those we frequently see in the USA. However, the UK is increasingly suffering from flooding and there is always the risk of other events such as civil unrest, loss of power and basic services, and other natural disasters.
The word ‘evacuate’ means “to remove from a dangerous place to a somewhere safe”. But what is a ‘dangerous place’ for your birds? It could be anywhere that they are at risk of death, injury or subject to harm or unpleasantness, including any place where they would not have their basic needs met. When it comes to evacuation, any plan is better than no plan, so start thinking about the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ if you had to remove all your birds from your home. The important thing is to have a plan to follow and avoid panicking. You also need to revise your plan regularly as we know all too well that one pet parrot turns into a few parrots, turns into twenty four parrots, and so on… as we become immersed in our hobby.
Why might you need to evacuate? You and your birds may need to leave your property because of fire, flooding, a gas leak, structural damage, blocked access, a terrorist threat, riots, a severe weather warning, natural disaster or industrial incident. The list is quite extensive and it’s easy to think that none of these things will ever happen to us – and we hope they never do!