Urge Veterinarian Selling 'Breeding Stock' to Keep Mates Together, Send Special Needs Birds to Sanctuaries

PETA's headquarters has been bombarded with calls and e-mails from people who are concerned to learn that Susan Clubb , a Florida avian veterinarian, has commissioned Stampler Auctions to auction to the highest bidder about 600 exotic birds she has used for breeding since at least the early '90s. The "merchandise" Clubb is sellingbecause, in her own words, she "need[s] the money" due to a divorceconsists of hundreds of beautiful, intelligent exotic birds with decades-long life spans. Clubb has sold and shipped these birds offspring--sometimes unweaned--to pet stores in the United States and elsewhere. Click here to see photos of the conditions that Clubb's birds are kept in.

The one-day auction is scheduled to take place on June 16, 2007, starting at 9 a.m. CST. It will feature on-site, online, and phone bidding. Many of the birds who have been exploited by Clubb for the past 15 years are mating pairs, and many have special needs