Is Paris Yves qualified to give advice on birds?
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I questioned the qualification of Paris Yves, an animal right activist who has taken on the Australian avicultural community. Most of her claims were unbelievable and to me a little crazy.
On her Parrot Productions website I found a list of her “occupations”? These occupations are Bird Behaviourist/Educator and Campaigner, Project Manager, Independent Filmmaker, Actor, Life Counsellor and Reiki Practitioner. With a bit more digging I was also able to found that Paris is into Holistic Life Counselling, Relaxation Massage, Intuitive Healing, crystal healing, Clairvoyance/Mediumship and many more alternative therapies. Paris has her bird and animal behaviour education listed on the Parrot Productions website so I was able to look into them to see how credible they are. |
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The first one is Learning & Living with Animals by Dr S. G. Friedman and the description of the course taken from Dr. Susan Friedman website says ‘LLA Professional is designed to be a first course in behavior analysis for veterinarians, animal trainers, behavior consultants, and other animal professionals. The principles and procedures of behavior analysis are general in nature, that is, they apply to all species and situations. Thus, LLA Professional provides a robust, general foundation to accurately assess and resolve behavior problems, and more effectively support your behavior work with clients and patients.’
This looks like an interesting course but without a test there is no way to know if the person has retained or understood the information that was in the course. People that attended the course do get a certificate to say they attending the 8-week telecourse but the certificate is also not proof of attending the course as I now have one with my name on it. It only took me about 10 seconds to change the name.
The next one is Creative Aviaries & Foraging Toys by Lara Joseph. I was unable to find any information about this course so I contacted Lara but I still didn’t find out any information about the course. It does look like all Lara’s courses are done in person and from Lara’s YouTube channel I can see she knows how to train animals but her video making abilities leaves much to be desired.
The third one listed is Fundamentals of Aviculture from the American Federation of Aviculture. This is an ‘online course that provides a foundation for the emerging science of aviculture. It is presented in nine chapters ranging from anatomy and physiology to avian behavior; from laws and regulations affecting aviculture to how to provide proper housing and prevent illness of birds in our care’. From that description which is from the AFA website it’s clear that the course is designed to give people the basics of aviculture.
These courses to not make a person an experts on bird behaviour, they have all been designed to educate people about the fundamentals of owning birds and I think they would be worth doing.
The next one which Paris has listed as Veterinary level 1- Chisholm Institute which is in fact and online course to become a Veterinary Assistant from a website called www.ed2go.com. This course is mostly about dogs and cats and it’s also the one that pissed me right off.
I was reading the lesson descriptions and lesson 11 says ‘This lesson is the most cutting edge: Here, you'll learn all about alternative therapies that some veterinarians are applying in their practices, including acupuncture, homeopathy, herbs, and chiropractic care. And when it comes to pet food, is commercial, home-cooked, or raw the best choice? We'll examine the plusses and minuses of each possible diet’.
There are a few keywords used in the description that set off alarm bells. These alarm bells tell me that these Jeff Grognet should not be allowed near any animal or be allowed to teach. If anyone tells you to try an ‘alternative therapy’ or uses the word ‘homeopathy’ without including “is bullshit” then you shouldn't trust anything they say.
You can do a quiz for lesson one of this course on the website and I scored 80% but you can retake it so on my second attempt I scored 100%. Just so you’re clear there was only five multiple choice questions about dog and cat but I have never owned a dog or cat. I sent the test to a friend who has a dog and a cat and he too scored 80% but only because he couldn’t remember with whether it was dogs or cats that have high percentage of mammary tumors being malignant.
So would these courses make anyone qualify to be a bird behaviourist? I would say no but as there doesn't seem to be any regulations about what qualifications you need to be able to call yourself a bird behaviourist then Paris can call herself one and so can we.
This looks like an interesting course but without a test there is no way to know if the person has retained or understood the information that was in the course. People that attended the course do get a certificate to say they attending the 8-week telecourse but the certificate is also not proof of attending the course as I now have one with my name on it. It only took me about 10 seconds to change the name.
The next one is Creative Aviaries & Foraging Toys by Lara Joseph. I was unable to find any information about this course so I contacted Lara but I still didn’t find out any information about the course. It does look like all Lara’s courses are done in person and from Lara’s YouTube channel I can see she knows how to train animals but her video making abilities leaves much to be desired.
The third one listed is Fundamentals of Aviculture from the American Federation of Aviculture. This is an ‘online course that provides a foundation for the emerging science of aviculture. It is presented in nine chapters ranging from anatomy and physiology to avian behavior; from laws and regulations affecting aviculture to how to provide proper housing and prevent illness of birds in our care’. From that description which is from the AFA website it’s clear that the course is designed to give people the basics of aviculture.
These courses to not make a person an experts on bird behaviour, they have all been designed to educate people about the fundamentals of owning birds and I think they would be worth doing.
The next one which Paris has listed as Veterinary level 1- Chisholm Institute which is in fact and online course to become a Veterinary Assistant from a website called www.ed2go.com. This course is mostly about dogs and cats and it’s also the one that pissed me right off.
I was reading the lesson descriptions and lesson 11 says ‘This lesson is the most cutting edge: Here, you'll learn all about alternative therapies that some veterinarians are applying in their practices, including acupuncture, homeopathy, herbs, and chiropractic care. And when it comes to pet food, is commercial, home-cooked, or raw the best choice? We'll examine the plusses and minuses of each possible diet’.
There are a few keywords used in the description that set off alarm bells. These alarm bells tell me that these Jeff Grognet should not be allowed near any animal or be allowed to teach. If anyone tells you to try an ‘alternative therapy’ or uses the word ‘homeopathy’ without including “is bullshit” then you shouldn't trust anything they say.
You can do a quiz for lesson one of this course on the website and I scored 80% but you can retake it so on my second attempt I scored 100%. Just so you’re clear there was only five multiple choice questions about dog and cat but I have never owned a dog or cat. I sent the test to a friend who has a dog and a cat and he too scored 80% but only because he couldn’t remember with whether it was dogs or cats that have high percentage of mammary tumors being malignant.
So would these courses make anyone qualify to be a bird behaviourist? I would say no but as there doesn't seem to be any regulations about what qualifications you need to be able to call yourself a bird behaviourist then Paris can call herself one and so can we.
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Here is a section of a video from Paris's YouTube channel in which she believes she is healing the bird with a rock (crystal healing). Anyone that calls them self a bird behaviourist should be able to see that is bird is getting a head scratch. Birds preen themselves all the time but the top of the head and the back of the neck are hard to get to. They will rub these areas on objects like a branch of a tree or their mate with help them out.
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You might be wondering what a Reiki Practitioner dose or what Holistic Life Counselling, Relaxation Massage, Intuitive Healing and Clairvoyance/Mediumship are. All but Relaxation Massage are all thing that set off alarm bells as they are a sign of a person with no scientific understanding.
It’s best to just to do your own research on these alternative therapies/medicines to see how crazy they really are and do you know what they call alternative medicine that works? Medicine.
I have messaged Paris Yves on a few occasions to try and clear up a few of her statements but so far I have had no response. All the information and facts that are included in this blog is available and free to access on other sites at the time of writing.
-Dale Cray
p.s. If you believe that I have got any facts or information wrong you are welcome to email me with proof of your claims and I will fix it in this blog post.
References:
Creative Aviaries & Foraging Toys - Lara Joseph.
Fundamentals of Aviculture- American Federation of Aviculture
Become a Veterinary Assistant
Parrot Productions
My Free Will Journey
Let Companion Birds Fly
Let Companion Birds Fly - YouTube
Reiki
Intuitive Healing
Homeopathy
Crystal Healing
