 Steve Nichols has a way with birds.
The founder of the UK's National Parrot Sanctuary connects with them in a way few people can understand. Strolling through the centre at Friskney, in Lincolnshire, he can individually name most of the 414 parrots under his care. And like a horse whisperer who can "break" troublesome equines, Mr Nichols has the ability to bond with the worst behaved birds. He says: "I have got a natural affinity with parrots... they actually relate to me." "When a wild creature will jump off the tree and come walking over to you, and when it has been someone's bad pet, then I think I just feel so special." The majority of birds at the sanctuary are "problem pets" which overwhelmed their owners. Mr Nichols said increasing numbers of owners were finding their parrots too much to handle and were surrendering them to the sanctuary. At the current rate, he expects the sanctuary's stock to go up to more than 1,000 birds within two years. The influx can be put down to the rising number of parrots being imported into the UK and the fact that the animals get more difficult to manage as they get older. It is noise and aggression which usually drives most people to give up their birds. When BBC News Online visited the sanctuary, one woman phoned Mr Nichols about giving away her bird after owning it for just nine days - despite paying ￡900 for it. The bird had started attacking family members. Mr Nichols says: "Most people just don't realize what they are getting themselves into when they buy parrots.... they are still wild animals and can be very difficult.
Mr Nichols changes his mobile phone ring tone every couple of days to stop his parrots mimicking it.
"It's not like dogs which are domesticated and have been living with humans for thousands of years." In recent weeks, Mr Nichols has opened his sanctuary to paying customers, mainly in the hope of raising money for his expanding operation, which also includes a 24-hour helpline for worried owners. "As more birds come into the sanctuary the more it is going to cost. "So we came up with the idea that if we show people what we do, and they contribute by paying to come in, hopefully we can secure the longevity of the parrots." (Agencies) | 史蒂夫·尼科爾斯是養(yǎng)鳥高手。 這位英國(guó)國(guó)家鸚鵡保護(hù)區(qū)的創(chuàng)始人用很少有人能夠理解的方式來(lái)和鳥兒溝通。 漫步在林肯郡Friskney的保護(hù)區(qū)，他能夠逐一叫出大多數(shù)在他照看下的鸚鵡的名字，共414只。 就像馬語(yǔ)者能夠馴服倔強(qiáng)的烈馬一樣，尼科爾斯先生能夠和最不規(guī)矩的鳥兒做朋友。 他說(shuō)：“我對(duì)鸚鵡有一種天生的吸引力，他們確實(shí)和我很有默契。” “當(dāng)一只野鸚鵡從樹上跳下來(lái)走向你，當(dāng)它曾是某人頑皮的寵物時(shí)，我想我就會(huì)感到很特別。” 動(dòng)物保護(hù)區(qū)內(nèi)大部分的鳥都是“問(wèn)題寵物”，它們讓主人無(wú)計(jì)可施。 尼科爾斯先生說(shuō)越來(lái)越多的主人發(fā)現(xiàn)他們管不住自己的鸚鵡，所以他們只能將鸚鵡送到保護(hù)區(qū)來(lái)。 以目前的增長(zhǎng)速度，他預(yù)計(jì)在兩年之內(nèi)保護(hù)區(qū)收容的鳥將超過(guò)1000只。 大量的鸚鵡涌入保護(hù)區(qū)是因?yàn)閺膰?guó)外進(jìn)口到英國(guó)的鸚鵡不斷增多，而且鳥兒年紀(jì)越大越難養(yǎng)。 鳥類發(fā)出的噪聲和它們對(duì)人類的攻擊往往使大多數(shù)人放棄養(yǎng)鳥。 當(dāng)英國(guó)廣播電臺(tái)在線新聞采訪鸚鵡保護(hù)區(qū)的時(shí)候，有一名婦女給尼科爾斯先生打電話，準(zhǔn)備放棄她養(yǎng)了僅僅九天的鳥--盡管她為這只鳥花了900英鎊。 這只鳥已經(jīng)開始攻擊她的家人。 尼科爾斯先生說(shuō)：“大多數(shù)買鸚鵡的時(shí)候根本沒有意識(shí)他們將陷入怎樣的境地……鸚鵡仍然是野生動(dòng)物，它們很難伺候的。” 尼科爾斯先生每隔幾天就更換一次手機(jī)鈴聲，防止他的鸚鵡們模仿鈴聲。 “鸚鵡不像狗那樣容易馴養(yǎng)，狗已經(jīng)和人類一起生活幾千年了。” 最近幾個(gè)星期，尼科爾斯先生把他的保護(hù)區(qū)向公眾開放，收取門票，主要是希望能夠?yàn)樗粩鄶U(kuò)大的業(yè)務(wù)籌集資金。他還向遇到困難的主人們提供24小時(shí)熱線電話服務(wù)。 “保護(hù)區(qū)里的鳥越多，花費(fèi)就越大。” “所以我們想到這個(gè)主意：如果我們告訴人們我們所做的事，他們通過(guò)出錢參觀保護(hù)區(qū)做一點(diǎn)貢獻(xiàn)，我們就有希望保障鸚鵡的壽命了。” Put down to：歸因于
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Updated: 2003-08-13 01:00
