Wild Parrots in New Jersey Need Your Help!

The wild parrots of New Jersey live in a gregarious flock that has delighted many residents if the town of Edgewater, a borough just across the Hudson River from Manhattan's Upper West Side. But unlike their cousins in Brooklyn, the "Joisey Boids" live under a cloud created when the State of New Jersey labelled them a "Potentially Dangerous Species" back in the 1970's.

One of the Brooklyn Parrot Society's boardmembers, Alison Evans-Fragale, has fought tirelessly alongside Edgewater's civic leaders to reform the laws in NJ to take account of the fact that these wild parrots pose no danger to human health or other animal wildlife, and after much work, she got the NJ Legislature to introduce a bill, A1237, which provides the removal of the monk parrot from the "Potentially Dangerous Species" list. On Monday, May 22nd, in a bi-partisan triumph, Bill A1237 was unanimously passed by the full Assembly.

Within the next few days, Bill A1237 will go before the Senate Environmental Committee as Bill S1768 (see: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2006/Bills/S2000/1768_I1.HTM

Passage of this bill is not ensured (there are those who, for reasons of their own, find it convenient to label this gentle parrot "dangerous"). So please, if you'd like to do something nice for the wild parrots of New Jersey, please communicate your support for this bill to the following New Jersey Senators, all of whom are members of the Environmental Commitee:

Senator Bob Smith, Chair
SenBSmith@njleg.org
216 Stelton Road, Suite E-5, Piscataway, NJ 08854
732-752-0770

Senator Stephen M. Sweeney, Vice-Chair
SenSweeney@njleg.org
Kingsway Commons
935 Kings Highway, Suite 400, Thorofare, NJ 08086
856-251-9801

Senator Henry P McNamara
SenMcNamara@njleg.org
P.O. Box 68, Wycoff, NJ 07481-0068
201-848-9600

Senator John H. Adler
SenAdler@njleg.org
231 Route 70 East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-2421
856-428-3343

Senator Andrew R. Ciesla
SenCiesla@njleg.org
852 Highway 70, Brick, NJ 08724
732-840-9028