Hi, not a question but a story that i didn't quite know where to place. Yesterday our neighbour had me help with a bird emergency. There was a starling in her back garden who had gotten caught up in the netting from one of these. It had managed to get most of itself free but the netting was still wound around its tongue...and there was still a bit of fatball left in the netting so it was dragging the poor wee things tongue out. It was horrifying...there was blood everywhere which stood out more in the snow. I cannot stand to see animals in pain and normally i would be a basketcase...but I just picked him up and held him whilst I had my partner go get some scissors. We managed to snip the netting off as close to his tongue as possible but it was pretty damaged. After i had set him down on the snow again he flew away quite happily so my mind is choosing to believe that he survived. I can still feel his little hea5rt beating away in my hand...like a phantom limb. Please don't buy these...or if you do shred the netting and put the fatballs in a fatball feeder.
Unknown said: RSPB have done countless media releases on this problem. I do remeber though that this year concerned members and one of our wildlife advisers got the National Trust to change its policy on selling them in the mesh bags. http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.asp?id=tcm:9-196968
RSPB have done countless media releases on this problem. I do remeber though that this year concerned members and one of our wildlife advisers got the National Trust to change its policy on selling them in the mesh bags.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.asp?id=tcm:9-196968
They really are a problem - are there any campaigns in place to manufacturers?
Well done for saving that Starling from the netting though, its just lucky you and your neighbour were home and it didn't go unnoticed!
I buy my fat balls from the garden centre in tubs of 100, the come in nets though and I remove them from the nets. I'm wary of the nets so put them in a carrier bag and not it.
It truly is disgusting that companies still manufacture them with nets on though, especially when they are a proven hazzard to birds!
Hi Paul
I am thinking the same way about the nets on bird fat balls.
Why have they not been removed for once and for all now.
The issue with removing the 'nets' has gone on for ages.
Maybe the removal of the nets will cause the 'crumbly' Fatballs to fall apart and the nets keep the fatball together until they are sold.
There must be a optional way of packing them instead?
Regards
Kathy and Dave
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Hi,
I'm thinking it should be made into some kind of campaign and pushed out to every manufacturer as it has to be stopped.
In fact I have typed up a letter which I'm going to send to the manufacturer of the ones I usually get from the garden centre, they can't use crumbling as an excuse and these ones hold together really well!
There's a company (C&J I think it is) and they don't package theirs in netting, instead you get them on a polystyrene tray which I much prefer any day.
In some terms its almost like we could be feeding the birds to help them survive and yet killing them at the same time with these nets. It really is a innocent looking killer!
Nicki C said: Hi Paul I am thinking the same way about the nets on bird fat balls. Why have they not been removed for once and for all now. The issue with removing the 'nets' has gone on for ages. Maybe the removal of the nets will cause the 'crumbly' Fatballs to fall apart and the nets keep the fatball together until they are sold. There must be a optional way of packing them instead? Regards Kathy and Dave