In June of 2009, while attending the first ever, Gouldian Seminar in Kensington, Connecticut, I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Van Patten, the USA Information Officer for the Save the Gouldian Fund.
Meeting Bill, and hearing the tales of his trip to the Northern Territory of Australia to see the wild Gouldians was a truly moving experience.
Having been a Gouldian breeder, in the USA since 1991, I have loved this beautiful, little bird for a long time. But it was hearing about their plight from someone who had actually been there, that was an eye opening experience. It was at that time that I decided that I wanted to donate to the Save the Gouldian Fund to help with the research in finding a way to save them from extinction. Making the donation was not possible while I was developing my new website, but now that it is an active reality, I will be able to donate a portion of all sales of all the bird care products to the STGF.
Dr. Sarah Pryke is the Chief Research Scientist at the Save the Gouldian Fund. You can read more about Dr. Pryke’s work at http://savethegouldian.net/ in the “Research” section of the STGF website. You will also find other articles about the Nestbox Project as well as Past and Future Projects that the Fund has in the works.
For just $35 (AUD) you can provide a home for a wild Gouldian finch family. For further details and to sponser a nest-box, please see the Save the Gouldian Fund website: http://www.savethegouldian.net/?page_id=54
There are currently only 18 individual members listed in the “Donor” list for the STGF from the USA. We need to change that! There are thousands of us here in the USA that own and love this little bird. I recently learned that for a small donation of only $25 you can join the Save the Gouldian Fund and make a difference! Every advance that they make to save the Gouldian Finch from extinction brings us one step closer to filling in the missing pieces and learning everything that we can about keeping and breeding vitally strong and healthy Lady Gouldians in captivity.
