urban legend? Avocados and parrots

 Hi All,

I was watching a TV vet the other night and he said that avocados were
toxic to parrots, but that parrots loved them.  Does this mean that
home or orchard avocados are a lethal trap for local parrots and
cockatoos?  

Thanks,
Tish

 g'day trish,

that would appear to be what they where alluding to hey??

the mind boggles as to how many birds of teh parrot family are dying
due to avacado orchids let alone home gardeners, and why only the
parrot family is their system distinctly diffeent from other birds?

dunno sometiems when we see things on tv one wonders if there isn't a
barrow being pushed in the interest of vested interests?

len

wrote:

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.gardenlen.com

 

I would have thought we'de hear a lot more about this if it was
true....wouldn't that mean legions of parrots would be dropping dead
anywhere there was an avocado tree or orchard? Wouldn't wildlife groups be
hitting the farmers, and everyone else, over the head with it by now? I
can't imagine them standing by and watching the carnage continue, so I am a
leeetle suspicious on this story!

 
Tish wrote:

It would appear that avocados are toxic to birds especially parrots. I
did a goole search on avocados and parrots and avocados and birds and
it appears it is not an urban legend.

One from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
demonstrated the budgerigars are more suseptable than canaries :-

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids )14792&dopt=Citation

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids )14792&dopt=Citation

Well there you go! The evidence is overwhelming...*sigh* I hang my head in
shame ! Still, I';m wondering how avocado farmers sweep all the dead
cockatoos under the rug....