DYEING OF BIRDS.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18946, 16 May 1933, Page 8

DYEING OF BIRDS.

CRUEL, STUPID USELESS,

OPINION OF BREEDERS,

“It is cruelty to dye -a bird, cause it closes up the pores of the sldn. Moreover, it is a stupid, useless practice.’’ So said Mr Alex Henry, bird-dealer, at Ohrlstohuroh, in commenting on the fact that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had reported that someone in Christchurch had dyed birds.

It was the first case of the kind that Mr Henry had heard of in Christchurch, in his 25 years’' experience. He said that the practice ought to bs nipped in the bud. It reminded him of the .Whitechapel trick of dyeing sparrows yellow and selling then as canaries. Colour feedihg, a harmless procedure, had a big vogue, particularly in England, where in the shows there were only about four natural colour sections.

It was found that colour feed was preferred by many birds to ordinary feed. He had a canary for ii years, for four of which it was colour-fed. It was his healthiest bird, and one cst the best breeders. Colour feed was harmless and very mild compared with what it used to be. Even with colour feeding, the birds lost colour in the moult. Colour-fed birds came bette* through the moult. “But dyeing,” ha added, “that is absurd and cruel.” “A dyed bird amuses an idle crowd, that is all," declared Mr T. H. Jones, 40 years a birdman. “Nothing is gained by it, and there is nothing ‘humane in it. All dyes are poisons ta a certain degree, and a bird has to ba held in the dye. Where is the sense in that? We have become very humane and It is better &o. In England, at one time, the horrible practice used to be followed 'of blinding chaffinches with a red-hot wire, so thai the birds would sing better, undisturbed by the sight of anything approaching."