Dear Parrots magazine,
Is there a problem with zinc?
It was when a friend of mine came to visit me that the subject of zinc poisoning came up and so went into quite an interesting discussion about it. Although she hasn’t got any birds herself, she knows I have, although she does not know what type. But the subject of the possible hazards of zinc cropped up about zinc poisoning and I remember reading some years ago in one of the bird magazines, I can’t remember which one, that the writer of a long letter was quite scathing about zinc and how we should not use it as it’s dangerous for everyone.
I didn’t take a great deal of notice at the time as the writer seem to be almost obsessive about the zinc and how it’s going to kill everybody’s birds. Of course, there wasn’t any particular concern within the parrot community, but I’m sure that if this man’s concerns had substance, we would’ve heard a lot more about any concerns that they may have been about zinc.
I have two aviaries, one housing a pair of Orange-wings and one with four pairs of cockatiels, so when my friend popped in and brought up the subject, I started to think about it as I had lost an Amazon some years ago, but put it down to possible old-age or just one of those sad things that happens to us, I never suspected zinc at all.
My time with this hobby spans almost 25 years and having two aviaries for most of that time I would’ve thought that if zinc was a problem, I would’ve had issues, if not mortalities, with the birds I have kept. Like most aviaries, they all are mostly constructed with weld mesh, which is galvanised and the birds climb up and down on the mash so are in contact for quite a lot of time. The fact my friend brought up the subject, did raise a little question at the back of my head, but I’m happy that my birds are not in danger and that zinc does not possess any significant harm to birds. I will be very interesting to hear from anyone who thinks along the same lines as myself or indeed, if anyone has an opinion similar to that of the man that wrote that letter.
Katrina Lofthouse, by email