My rescue's leg band has no code or numbers.

[023casper]

I've had him for three months now, and he's had two owners before me. I was given the bare minimum info on him before I adopted, like his age and that his first owner handled him with gardening gloves , but I didn't mind because I was desperate to give him a home, he was pretty miserable at the shelter. He has a silver, circular band and from what I can see it doesn't have any markings.

Here's a pic:

I'm aware of his feet problems btw, they're a lot better than they used to be but he still has some recovering to do. I also don't want to touch his claws just yet since he has a few trust issues and I feel it's still too early to do anything that might break what I've built up with him. They were caused by him having just two perched in his cage that were waaay too thin.

So, what does this mean? I'm worried he may be an illegal import! He's apparently 19 (but I have a sneaky feeling he's quite a bit older) so there's not much I can do to find out. I don't want to contact his previous owner either, because apparently she's a bit mad.

 

[MikeyTN]

Is it a open band??? From what I can tell that's what it looks like. My macaw have a closed band and there's no numbers or anything cause he chew and rubbed them off so it serves no purpose for him to wear it now...lol

 

[SilverSage]

What is she mad about? was he take against her will? If so, then contacting her could elad to legal action and/or having him birdienapped, so I agree with you. Sorry, I don't know why he would be banded like that. It doesnt look like the kind to be printed, but I guess it is possible the numbers could have worn off. He could be an illegal import, but they say he is 19? 21ish years ago it was still legal to import most parrot species, so even if he was wild caught, that does not automatically mean he is illegal Sorry I couldnt be more help.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Thank you for giving this Amazon a chance and a loving home.

No, he's not an import. From what I can see, he is close banded, meaning he was bred in the country.

 

[023casper]

By mad I mean crazy, haha. She calls the shelter manager about five times a day to check up on the 50+ gerbils, two parrots, 3 cockatiels, 6 chinchillas and 5 degus she had to give them when she divorced her husband. It's kind of sad but I'm worried that she may want to take him back if we contacted her, or she'll never stop checking up on him like she does with the manager.

Anyway, it's an open band. The two ends are pretty wide and not touching. What does that mean, that he's not bred in England?

 

[SilverSage]

Oh sorry, the laws I mentioned are in the USA. Importing didn't really get shut down here until 1992. I really don't know about England. And yeah, contacting her sounds like a really bad idea.

 

[023casper]

There might not be any laws on it since the UK obviously doesn't have any wild parrots, and any birds brought to the country would be closely scrutinized anyway by immigration. I can't find anything about it on google.

 

[MikeyTN]

Thought it was open band from the upper part in the picture. And he may or may not be bred there. A breeder can clamp one on to separate them apart. Some birds end up not banded while young. But there's a high chance he may be wild caught...

 

[JerseyWendy]

These good ole' eyes deceived me, HAHAHAH.

Michael is right, he may or may not have been bred in England. But I have to say I've never seen such a wide open band before. All the imports I've seen had thin, but thick open bands.

 

[023casper]

Strange... Another parrot from the same owner is still at the sanctuary, so next time I visit I'll go see if he has a similar band. Perhaps the owner had them put on? I can't think why though, they have no info and no signs of anything being worn away.