'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

April 27, 2020 6:57 AM

A Canadian man wished to complain about a parrot what he purchased not long ago from this boutique.

According to the Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, Michael Davy said he noticed Tiberius, an Eclectus parrot, was missing a few tail feathers when he bought it, but was told the bird was only "molting and had clipped wings but was otherwise healthy."

But, to paraphrase one of Monty Python's most beloved sketches, the plumage didn't enter into it.

posted by Cardinal Fang (15 comments total)

PBFD is a pretty scary disease. It's the bane of rescues because it transmits easily and some birds (like Tiberius) can carry it for a good while before the symptoms become obvious. The tests are also prone to false negatives, so new birds at a rescue need to be tested at least twice, several weeks apart, to be sure they don't have it. But the tests can also have false positives if birds are malnourished, which rescue birds frequently are. Carriers need to be isolated from non-carriers forever, which really sucks for a social critter like most parrots.

Needless to say, because avoiding the spread of PBFD requires high cleanliness standards, medical care, and careful isolation, it's a big problem with birds that come direct from breeders and especially for pet shops that buy birds from breeders. Can't have something trivial like preventing the spread of a fatal disease cutting into their profit margins!
posted by tobascodagama at 7:14 AM on April 27, 2020 [12 favorites]

Well, it's certainly uncontaminated with cheese.
(wait I think I did that wrong)
posted by Mchelly at 7:48 AM on April 27, 2020 [11 favorites]

Cardinal Fang, I didn't expect your appearance in this sketch.
posted by St. Oops at 8:05 AM on April 27, 2020 [17 favorites]

I will not buy this parrot, it is scratched!
posted by SansPoint at 10:02 AM on April 27, 2020 [5 favorites]

My hovercraft is full of parrots
posted by nubs at 11:04 AM on April 27, 2020 [3 favorites]

Oh I'm sorry, this is parrot abuse! You want room 12A, next door.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:07 AM on April 27, 2020 [6 favorites]

Say no more.
posted by DaddyNewt at 11:14 AM on April 27, 2020 [5 favorites]

I thought this was going to be a remake of the original sketch, only instead of a more and more enraged Cleese, we would find a Canadian being more and more polite about the problem.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:23 AM on April 27, 2020 [9 favorites]

I definitely would have preferred that!
posted by tobascodagama at 11:34 AM on April 27, 2020

find a Canadian being more and more polite about the problem.

Most Canadians would be so polite about the problem, we wouldn't make an issue of it in the first place. No, we'd be out, leaping from tree to tree as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia...
posted by nubs at 1:15 PM on April 27, 2020 [11 favorites]

That's not a parrot, that's a larch.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 1:36 PM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]

Well, it's spelled "p-a-r-r-o-t" but it's pronounced "larch".
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:11 PM on April 27, 2020 [4 favorites]

Well, there's PBFD, eggs, sausage and PBFD ... that's not got much PBFD in it.
posted by pmurray63 at 6:52 PM on April 27, 2020

I'll have a strawberry tart without so much PBFD in it.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:56 PM on April 27, 2020

If we took the PBFD out, it wouldn't be moulting, would it?
posted by doiheartwentyone at 2:51 AM on April 28, 2020