# Man's Death Caused by Diseased Cockatiel



## superluvrgurl (Sep 7, 2008)

*Man's Death Caused by Petsmart's practices*

here is the whole story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS11059+17-Jun-2008+BW20080617


Man's Death Caused by Diseased Cockatiel; Daughter Files Wrongful Death Suit Against PetSmart, Announces Franklin, Cardwell & Jones Family Calls News Conference, Wants Pet Store Chain With Historyof 'Parrot Fever' Outbreaks to End Bird SalesCORPUS CHRISTI, Texas--(Business Wire)--Prompted by the sudden sickness and ensuing death of her father--decorated Vietnam war veteran Joe de la Garza--just days after the family bought a cockatiel from a Corpus Christi PetSmart store, Amanda de la Garza is calling on the national pet store chain to stopselling all birds. Amanda nearly died after becoming extremely ill at the same time as her father. The de la Garza family sent the bird--who also died--to the Texas Veterinary Medical Laboratory for a necropsy that revealed the presence of psittacosis, a highly transmissible andsometimes deadly disease also called "parrot fever." Joe de la Garza'scause of death has been confirmed as psittacosis. Amanda and her brother will announce their wrongful death lawsuit against PetSmart ata news conference in Corpus Christi on Tuesday. 

The de la Garza tragedy should not come as a surprise to PetSmart, according to Franklin, Cardwell & Jones. In March 2006, PetSmartpulled hundreds of birds from its Texas stores when some testedpositive for psittacosis. As recently as February 2008, the company again suspended bird sales, this time in 950 stores in 47 states aftera psittacosis outbreak was discovered in at least 44 PetSmart stores. "My father's death was preventable. PetSmart must do the rightthing and stop selling birds today," says Amanda. "I miss my father every day, and it's my goal to make sure that no one else has to go through what I've been through so needlessly." 

Amanda de la Garza learned that the bird she had purchased camefrom Rainbow World Exotics (RWE), an animal supplier located inHamilton, Texas. According to Franklin, Cardwell & Jones, People forthe Ethical Treatment of Animals' recent undercover investigation of RWE documented inhumane, filthy conditions and sick animals, includinga juvenile Goffin's cockatoo who wasted away for weeks before eventually dying. 

For more information about Franklin, Cardwell & Jones, pleasevisit www.fcj.com.Franklin, Cardwell & JonesRon Franklin, [email protected] Copyright Business Wire 2008


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

That may explain why the local petsmart stopped the sale of birds for a few months.
That is really sad that it happened..


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

It's very sad and I can't imagine what she's going through but the title of the article should be Man's Death Caused by Petsmart's practices. I have to say that alot of people give birds a bad rep and it makes me mad because I live with them and know just how clean they are. It's the responsibility of whoever is the care taker to make sure they get a clean enviroment to start with.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

I heard about this last year, it's pretty sad.


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## superluvrgurl (Sep 7, 2008)

Aly said:


> It's very sad and I can't imagine what she's going through but the title of the article should be Man's Death Caused by Petsmart's practices. I have to say that alot of people give birds a bad rep and it makes me mad because I live with them and know just how clean they are. It's the responsibility of whoever is the care taker to make sure they get a clean enviroment to start with.


Changed the title.... You were right, it was the breeder and petsmart's practices not the bird that is to blame


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## Bea (Jul 26, 2007)

I feel like all parrot owners should be aware of psittacosis (aka "parrot fever"). It rarely causes problems for people, but it can affect young or old people, or people with poor immune systems. I've had it run through my flock before, and while i had to take more care with hygiene during the time they were sick neither myself or any of my family became ill. 

As far as i know psittacosis in humans presents as flu like symptoms and if you know that, and also that you have birds that may carry the disease, you can go straight to the doctor and tell them about it. It's fairly easily treated. 

It is sad that the man died, but it's ignorance for the family to be placing blame like that.


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

That is very sad that the man died but is quite rare. When I got my budgie I had to sign a contract saying I know about psittacosis and can't sue if I get it.


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## Savaaha (Jan 1, 2009)

Im wondering about this.. I had a liver transplant 15yrs ago. Docs were concerned I could catch this from the birds but is there really any risk from bird that shows no sign of the illness? Its so rare and thats why I decided to get a Tiel after so long.


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## Bea (Jul 26, 2007)

Tiels and budgies are known for carrying psittacosis. It's rare for people to catch it though. It's shed in faeces, so as long as you keep your cage clean the chance of catching it gets lower.


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## SunnyCockatiel (May 26, 2008)

How come the breeder didn't get sick? I am curious about that and did all of their birds die too? It's a tragic story.

My PetSmart in Saint Petersburg also stopped selling. Said that their birds had a virus ---> It is horrible and I would not purchase a bird from them anyway. The birds look so stressed (at least at mine).

Poor family... Poor parrot.


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## Cheryl (Dec 27, 2008)

sunnybaby said:


> My PetSmart in Saint Petersburg also stopped selling. Said that their birds had a virus ---> It is horrible and I would not purchase a bird from them anyway. The birds look so stressed (at least at mine).
> 
> Poor family... Poor parrot.


Surprisingly the birds at mine actually don't look too stressed. They take really good care of practically all their animals (except the feeder fish). The pet associates are all very experienced when it comes to their departments. 


Agree that its horrible that they are blaming the bird. For all we know, they could be one of those people who clean the cage once every one or two weeks. My birds' cages are cleaned at least twice a day. Poo poo is illegal in my house. Plus, if a bird does go to the bathroom on you, i'd imagine you'd wash your hands right away. Many diseases from everything are spread through feces.. its common sense to keep the amount to a minimum.


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

Cheryl said:


> its common sense to keep the amount to a minimum.


Unfortunetly, many lack this special ingridient...lol


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## superluvrgurl (Sep 7, 2008)

Aly said:


> Unfortunetly, many lack this special ingridient...lol


 LOL too true.


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## bigmikey36 (Aug 5, 2008)

Funnily enough every petsmart i've ever been to the bird area has been immaculate. Everyone complains about petsmart but everyone knows everything about what goes on at they're petsmart and why is that....because they ALL shop there....seems pretty hypocritical to me but hey thats just my opinion
Mikey


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## superluvrgurl (Sep 7, 2008)

superluvrgurl said:


> here is the whole story:
> 
> *Amanda de la Garza learned that the bird she had purchased came from Rainbow World Exotics (RWE), an animal supplier located in Hamilton, Texas. According to Franklin, Cardwell & Jones, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' recent undercover investigation of RWE documented inhumane, filthy conditions and sick animals, includinga juvenile Goffin's cockatoo who wasted away for weeks before eventually dying. *


I don't believe that Petsmart is really to blame for all of this. I think that the breeders of the birds should take most of the responsibility. First of all, a responsible breeder would NEVER breed birds whom were sick, or supected of being sick. As a breeder, health of your stock and young, should be a paramount concern. RWE, the breeder, is currently under investigation because of documented inhumaine and filthy living conditions. Apparently, they were not too concerned in the well-being of their animals. 

*"Tiels and budgies are known for carrying psittacosis. It's rare for people to catch it though. It's shed in faeces, so as long as you keep your cage clean the chance of catching it gets lower. " -Bea*

So, if the breeders had more hygenic living conditions for their birds, chances are, the outbreak could have been avoided.

**getting off my soap box now....**
Thanks for listening


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

I regularly visit Petco and Petsmart. As of Sunday I will not be going back to Petco. I was looking for pieces I could use to build a playstand and More pellets for my babies. Petco is usually fair but Sunday it smelled like death in there real strong! Their selection was not great and their prices as I discovered when I decided to go to Petsmart too were about 30% higher on most items. The selection of birds at Petsmart was much better and their cages were all immaculate! The birds seemed happy and very social. There was a canary there that was singing for all he was worth and there was a green cheek there that was just such a sweetie. He had a girl ooing and aahing over him. I told her boyfriend "You better get her that bird". It had clearly chosen her! At any rate after having compared the two places within 20 minutes of each other I have decided that Petsmart is far superior than Petco. The Petco always seems to be short handed and uses that as an excuse to have dead fish and filthy cages. Petsmart seems to have more staff, more stock, better care and lower prices. I will not be going back to Petco.


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## bigmikey36 (Aug 5, 2008)

Well its nice to know that i'm not the only one able to sing the praises of petsmart. I shop there regularly and i always have a great experience. I took Grinch there the first night i had him because i had to get hand feeding formula and they all went nuts over him and he was just too happy to be a little social butterfly and went to say hi to all of them lol
Mikey


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## Katta (Mar 21, 2008)

sweetrsue said:


> I regularly visit Petco and Petsmart. As of Sunday I will not be going back to Petco. I was looking for pieces I could use to build a playstand and More pellets for my babies. Petco is usually fair but Sunday it smelled like death in there real strong! Their selection was not great and their prices as I discovered when I decided to go to Petsmart too were about 30% higher on most items. The selection of birds at Petsmart was much better and their cages were all immaculate! The birds seemed happy and very social. There was a canary there that was singing for all he was worth and there was a green cheek there that was just such a sweetie. He had a girl ooing and aahing over him. I told her boyfriend "You better get her that bird". It had clearly chosen her! At any rate after having compared the two places within 20 minutes of each other I have decided that Petsmart is far superior than Petco. The Petco always seems to be short handed and uses that as an excuse to have dead fish and filthy cages. Petsmart seems to have more staff, more stock, better care and lower prices. I will not be going back to Petco.


It's the reverse for me. The Petco nearby is awesome with birds, the avian specialist works with them on a daily basis. They are all on pellet diets, under full spectrum lighting, not completely cramped, and very well socialized. I had tiels and keets running up to the window every time I went by to buy toys/food. When I bought another tiel, she just reached in and he stepped up, no nets used at all.

Whereas the petsmart here has moldy pellets, keets in enclosures meant for gerbils/reptiles, and horrible prices.
________
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## llama86 (Nov 14, 2008)

I guess it's just really different depending on location. This thread got me thinking though... I change the cage liner daily but only clean the cages like once a month. And if i washed my hands everytime my birds pooped it would be all I do! I mean if they poop right on my hands i'll wash them but not if i'm cleaning it off my shirt.


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