PETA Calls on Retirement Community to Give Boxed Birds a Second Chance at Life

Resident’s Concern Over Birds’ Plight at Facility Prompts Action From National Animal-Protection Group

For Immediate Release:
June 25, 2013

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

Cockeysville, Md. — For years, PETA has received complaints about conditions endured by finches locked in a small barren cage at Broadmead, a retirement community in Cockeysville. Although PETA has offered to relocate the birds to a more natural setting with room to fly freely, dark overnight hours, and fresh food, among other essentials—and although Broadmead assured PETA in May that it would implement “ASAP” the basic animal welfare standards set forth by The Eden Alternative, a well-known national elder-care organization—Broadmead has apparently taken no action to address the birds’ substandard living conditions. That’s why PETA has posted an action alert on its popular website asking visitors to contact Broadmead Associate CEO Thomas Mondloch and ask that the birds be provided with a natural setting where they will have the space and stimulation that they need and deserve.

“Birds fly—but at Broadmead, they live in a glass box the size of an aquarium,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is hopeful that Broadmead will do the right thing and give these birds the chance to fly, splash in fresh water, and dine on fresh fruit―in other words, the chance to be birds!”

In nature, finches—who are native to grasslands and wooded areas—fly for miles. The finches in the box at Broadmead can barely move a few feet and have nothing stimulating to do or look at. They are deprived of water to bathe and preen in and are exposed to artificial bright light for hours on end. Their feed is devoid of the fruits and grains that they need to thrive, and because Robin’s Nest Aviaries, Inc.—the company that owns the birds and the box that they are apparently locked in—tends to the enclosure only twice a month, the birds regularly go without adequately fresh feed. In addition, between cleanings, waste is allowed to accumulate in the exposed food bowl on the box’s floor.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.