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Clipping wings after years of free flight

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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby friend2parrots » Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:04 pm

Andromeda wrote: equating wing clipping to tying a dog's legs together 24/7 is a good comparison and I agree that both should be equally outrageous and offensive to any humane individual. Sadly wing clipping is currently considered "normal" in the U.S. and while there is no excuse for it that's the reality. Some people clip for "safety" and some people clip for "convenience" but most people clip.

You, me, and others that advocate keeping flighted birds are in the minority in this country right now and we are fighting an uphill battle but it's one that needs to be fought. I am optimistic that one day wing clipping will be considered cruel and barbaric in the U.S. but it won't come without effort to educate people and I'm glad that someone like you has hundreds of videos of birds flying safely indoors to show people that with common sense and simple precautions it's totally fine.


well put. I think a really big part of the problem is that here in the US a lot of parrot owners, vets, professionals, etc, are completely out of touch with the fact that in Europe, wing-clipping IS considered mutilation, under law in some countries!
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby Michael » Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:55 pm

I don't want wing clipping to be made illegal. I just want to convince people not to do it of their own choice and to take all the proper steps and precautions to do that safely.

Andromeda wrote:I don't think it's nitpicking to say breaking a dog's legs is not the equivalent of clipping a bird's wings. The equivalent would be breaking the bird's wings. However, equating wing clipping to tying a dog's legs together 24/7 is a good comparison and I agree that both should be equally outrageous and offensive to any humane individual.


I'm talking about the psychological, practical, and outcome aspects rather than the physical application. A parrot with clipped wings is like a dog with broken wings, not a dog that got a fur trim.
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby mrbowlerhat » Fri Mar 22, 2013 4:19 pm

Michael wrote:I don't want wing clipping to be made illegal. I just want to convince people not to do it of their own choice and to take all the proper steps and precautions to do that safely.

I think this is actually the exact reason clipping should be "illegal". It looks like there's going to be a new law against clipping in Sweden next year, which I think is great and I really hope it'll go through.
Not because I want clippers to be considered criminals, but because maybe, when they hear there's a new law against wing clipping, they'll think. They'll maybe even consider not clipping in the future, not because of the law, but because of the reason behind the law. Why is it that clipping's become "pretty much illegal"?

(I'm kind of sure it's not going to be fully illegal to clip a bird's wings, but it's going to be highly recommended not to, and I think there's going to be kinda strict laws about the type of the clip - but even that is great!)

But yeah, I really don't know if it'd work that way in the US, hah. Can something be "pretty much illegal but not really"? :lol: :lol:
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby pennyandrocky » Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:59 pm

i don't know how to feel about wing clipping being illegal. i hate to see clipped wings but i have a friend with a m2 who adores her bird and the bird is very happy even though she is clipped. my friend was bashed for clipping and she was feeling so bad. i think she has to clip because her m2 is a therapy bird so she takes her everywhere even the grocery store. i know animals are not aloud in stores where food is sold.i'm not sure but i think maybe they allow her as long as her bird is clipped. if she lost her bird over clipping both would be devistated.
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby mrbowlerhat » Sat Mar 23, 2013 6:41 am

Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? In the US, a law against clipping would probably mean losing the bird or something like that.
Here, it's going to be more like some sort of a strong recommendation written together with the actual laws, and also actual laws about how you're allowed to clip.
If someone were to report a wing clipper, they wouldn't even have to pay or anything, as long as they enrich their birds' lives in other ways. I guess they'd also be told that clipping's not that great and stuff.

Like I said, this probably wouldn't work everywhere, but it'd sure be good if it did. ;)
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby marie83 » Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:12 am

pennyandrocky wrote:i don't know how to feel about wing clipping being illegal. i hate to see clipped wings but i have a friend with a m2 who adores her bird and the bird is very happy even though she is clipped. my friend was bashed for clipping and she was feeling so bad. i think she has to clip because her m2 is a therapy bird so she takes her everywhere even the grocery store. i know animals are not aloud in stores where food is sold.i'm not sure but i think maybe they allow her as long as her bird is clipped. if she lost her bird over clipping both would be devistated.


Well that could be solved with harness training. If the birds used for therapy she obviously has a good tolerance for things thus should be fairly easy to train.
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby pennyandrocky » Sat Mar 23, 2013 12:58 pm

she uses a harness too that's why i'm not really sure the reason for the clipping. i didn't really want to ask since she was feeling bad already.i don't know why she needs a therpy bird so i didn't want to pile on while she was feeling beaten already.
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby Utoomom » Mon Mar 25, 2013 10:19 am

To clip or not to clip??? this issue is very much like talking about religion or politics...no one will ever be on same boat at once....because we all feel too passtionate and that tends to explode in all forums in which this subject comes up... Bottom line is that ITS IS A PERSONAL CHOICE>>> PS: I DO NOT & WILL NOT continue to clip my U2 (he came clipped) & am enjoying watching his wings slowly grow out. It's a beautiful thing. Best we can do is educate new bird owners and hope for the best. AND it can be done on a diplomatic tone.... :)
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby marie83 » Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:29 pm

I actually think clipping should be made illegal (except in a few very rare circumstances). It would of course be extremely hard to regulate but legislation helps with education to a point, for example pet shops owners have to abide by the law in order to operate, they need to keep up to date with the laws and hopefully any changes will lead them to question why. It wont always work of course but even if it gets a few to change their outlook on clipping its a good thing and the more repuatable ones will hopefully pass their new knowledge onto the owners.
I say this because alot of people wont consider researching stuff they already think they know unless challenged on the matter, even then there will be alot who still wont but a few is better than hoping one day they will figure it out themselves.

As much as I don't want the world to become one big "nanny state" there are things such as animal welfare that shouldn't come down to personal choice. The animals can't choose but if they could they would.
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Re: Clipping wings after years of free flight

Postby Utoomom » Mon Mar 25, 2013 12:33 pm

marie83 wrote:I actually think clipping should be made illegal (except in a few very rare circumstances). It would of course be extremely hard to regulate but legislation helps with education to a point, for example pet shops owners have to abide by the law in order to operate, they need to keep up to date with the laws and hopefully any changes will lead them to question why. It wont always work of course but even if it gets a few to change their outlook on clipping its a good thing and the more repuatable ones will hopefully pass their new knowledge onto the owners.
I say this because alot of people wont consider researching stuff they already think they know unless challenged on the matter, even then there will be alot who still wont but a few is better than hoping one day they will figure it out themselves.

As much as I don't want the world to become one big "nanny state" there are things such as animal welfare that shouldn't come down to personal choice. The animals can't choose but if they could they would.



Well put Marie. :thumbsup:
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