Great Midwest Relay

My staff has urged me to write about something "non-birdy" this week and they suggested I tell you guys about my crazy running hobby. Specifically that I ran in a relay race from Madison Wisconsin to Chicago Illinois on June 9th and 10th....and I loved every minute of it!

The Great Midwest Relay is a 190 mile road race that raises money for Special Olympics. We left Madison Friday at noon....and 12 of us ran 15 miles each (in 3 segments) non stop until we got to Chicago around 3:30 Saturday afternoon. The logistics were a bit of a nightmare, I got exactly one hour of sleep in a cramped van in the middle of Racine Wisconsin, and had to run in the middle of the night with nothing bit a tiny headlamp to show me the way - but I had a blast and would do it again in a heartbeat. Why? Because of the team spirit and camaraderie that accompanies trying to accomplish such an amazing feat (plus it helped that the weather was virtually perfect).

Our Mixed Masters (men and women all over 40) team finished the race in 27 hours and 45 minutes and placed third in our category. Most of the team said they would do it again (me being one of them), but there were a few folks that said "no way!" What would you say?

Are Birds Becoming Less Popular as Pets?

American Pet Products Manufacturer's Association conducts a bi-annual "Pet Owners Survey." We just recently received our results for 2007-2008 and they were less than stellar. For the 3rd straight survey in a row, the % of households that have birds as pets has remained a stagnant 6%. Actually, there has been a slight 1% DECLINE in the number of households that own a bird from 6,416,714 in 2004 to 6,367,592 in 2007.

While that decline is very slight, what is important to know is that the percentage of households owning a pet increased 2.9% during the same period.

We would love to hear your thoughts as to why birds are not becoming MORE popular as pets. Avian Flu? Lack of good quality birds? Not enough media exposure? Computers? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

On another note - the Poquitos are arriving this week! We can hardly wait! More about those in the next few weeks.

More on the American Airlines Pet Bird policy

As mentioned last week, I wanted to make bird lovers aware of how "bird-unfriendly" American Airlines has become. Last February I attempted to travel with my Eclectus, and the result was a disaster - even though I am a Platinum Aadvantage Member. Following this incident, I wrote a press release in hopes of getting the media interested in this injustice:

*******MEDIA ADVISORY******

Contact: Carol Frank

carol@avianadventures.com;

AMERICAN AIRLINES REFUSES TO FLY PET PARROT, CITES “AVIAN BIRD INFLUENZA”.

Carol Frank, president of Avian Adventures, was refused service at American Airlines the morning of February 21, 2007 as she and her pet parrot, Murphy Green, tried to fly to Orlando to attend Global Pet Expo.

She was handed a policy dated March 9, 2006 which states “American and American Eagle will no longer accept birds as carry-on or checked pets. This change in policy is due to new regulations and concerns about diseases transmitted by birds, most recently avian bird influenza. Customers needing to transport a bird should be referred to Cargo.”

There has not been a single documented case in the U.S of someone catching avian influenza through a bird of any kind, much less a pet parrot that has never had contact with a wild bird.

Murphy Green, Carol’s beloved 13 year-old parrot , has appeared in numerous TV shows including the Oprah Winfrey Show, and last year’s Global Pet special on HGTV. He has traveled on over 60 flights and until today has never been refused boarding.

This policy was generated by ignorance and misinformation. The media frenzy surrounding “Bird Flu” has caused great harm to the pet bird trade because people were mistakenly led to believe that they can get this deadly virus through any type of birds, including pet birds that have never had contact with the outside world.

Carol and Murphy have been a team together at over 50 pet industry trade shows since 1994. In addition, Carol is a professional speaker and the author of “Do As I Say, Not as I Did: Gaining Wisdom in Business through the Mistakes of Highly Successful People.” Carol’s message includes the importance of being passionate about following your business dreams and Murphy is an integral part of her message.

However, if Carol wants to fly American Airlines to her trade shows or speaking engagements, Murphy is now grounded until this regulation is changed.

I would love to hear from anyone that has feedback or influence regarding this situation. I just called American again today to see if perhaps my complaint to Customer Relations in February had made any difference, but unfortunately they confirmed that the regulation is still in place.

American Airlines

I'm on vacation this week but unfortunately it has rained EVERY DAY. I've been in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and now Houston and it's NONSTOP!

This will be short but sweet and continued next week....Did you know American Airlines no longer allows pet birds in their cabin? They have a regulation dated March, 06 that I will post in next week's blog. All because of the Avian Flu. I used to travel with my Eclectus, Murphy Green, 6 or 7 times a year and now he is home bound because of this crazy regulation.

Next week I'll relay the story of how we got booted off our American flight to Global Pet Expo.