lol bill.

it is exploitation, but at least the barn owl is safe from predators!

a couple of years back i shot a fellow photographers wedding where the couple released 2 white doves from the top of a hotel near granada... in the middle of the breeding season when the city centre peregrines had 4 hungry mouths to feed!

2 doves of peace flying for the lives to get home to the wirral!

there must be easier ways to earn your corn/keep! :D

Bill to start with I certainly found the thread humorous - there's not enough humour about at the moment. The question of exploitation of animals will go on and on. The argument that in some cases the animal in question would not perfom if it did not enjoy what it has been trained to do will also be put forward e.g. horses that loose their jockeys in races would not continue running and jumping if they did not want to is an old chestnut. It could be argued by some that training birds to perform tricks e.g. falconry displays, enables joe public to see what we see when we go birding that and the birds are well fed blah, blah, blah is put forward as a justification in a topic that will rumble on and on - so it will be interesting to see what others think.

P.S. what about the exploitation of emoticons in your posts - I can't get my simple ones to perform never mind your exotic species!!!!!!!!

Sid

-- Edited by sid ashton at 08:42, 2009-03-06

My original post and subsequent post were intended to be "humorous" (probably failed miserably on that count!) but also to question whether this is actually a worthy and acceptable practice!

Whether it be ordinary folk or the rich and famous - is it right that we exploit and/or use birds for such a purpose? Similar examples of mans use or abuse depending on your stance might include - Elephants recently re-introduced to perform in a circus, performing cetaceans at a Disneyworld "wildlife" theme park. In mans never ending quest for novelty and entertainment , I sometimes wonder if we totally overlook what we are actually doing to birds and other forms of wildlife?

Sorry if this is a bit heavy and makes me sound like an animal rights extremist! Plenty there for all to chew over!

Cheers,

Bill.

maybe they are secret birders and are getting their cheshire lists off to a flying start!!!

This is nothing new..there was a similar thing done at a wedding before Christmas, it was in the MEN, and they were just ordinary folk..I think it was the grooms owl though!

In fact.... here is the story! So it wasn't his owl...

-- Edited by Phil_Oldham at 12:47, 2009-03-04

Whatever happened to the good old days when footballers weddings were so much more run of the mill events? I am sure that you can all recall one particularly low-key occasion?... matching his and hers golden thrones,... a dress designed by Vera Wang - and that was just for David!... Sir Elton John tinkling on the ivories (this type of embarrassing incident does unfortunately sometimes happen on the big day, particularly when the elderley are invited! ) Didn't weddings seem so much plainer and cheaper in those days!!

Now if footballers really want to be different and involve birds in their wedding ceremonies, why not be unconventional and dispense with the vicar and have the service conducted by a voice-trained parrot - but one which occasionally and regrettably keeps forgetting its lines and reverting to type! ".... and do you Rio Carnival Ferdinand...' who's a pretty boy then, who's a pretty boy then'... take Rebecca Ellison.... 'pretty polly, pretty polly'.... to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Would give footballers even more opportunities to use their well-worn "sick as a parrot" footballing cliche!

Cheers,

Bill.

Article in today's Guardian G2 - owl is called Ollie from Peckforton Castle in Cheshire. You can also hire Elfie the Golden Eagle. Footballers of course are rich, rich thick and tasteless. Especially the ones who play for United!! biggrin doesn't want to come out today

Obviously it's the trendy new thing I saw a mention of this about a month ago, NorthWest tonight, I think. I suppose it makes a change from dying doves pink and all the other nonsense (Can't find an emoticon for 'Bah, Humbug!)

-- Edited by Mike Chorley at 23:40, 2009-03-02

No easy ticks for GM birders though as both events are out- of- county

According to NW Tonight, it's an owl carrying a pouch with the rings in it, which will land on the best man's wrist - he will be wearing a falconer's glove. Incredible.

...sorry - hadn't scrolled down...!

-- Edited by Judith Smith at 20:48, 2009-03-02

Even better, in the MEN today, Manchester United's Wes Brown and his wife- to- be will have an Eagle (unspecified) "trained by a falconer" to deliver their rings at their Cheshire wedding in June!!!!

-- Edited by sid ashton at 20:18, 2009-03-02

2nd March.

Found this piece of nonsense on todays BBC Football gossip website.

"Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand and his fiancee Rebecca Ellison have arranged for a barn owl to swoop down the aisle and deliver their rings in a velvet pouch when they get married in August. (Daily Mirror)"

In the immortal words of John McEnroe - "You cannot be serious"!

Cheers,

Bill.


-- Edited by Bill Myerscough at 18:59, 2009-03-02