Swinging by to say that I love this thread! I've met people on both sides of the fence and there is so much knowledge to gain by listening!
Will catch up and pitch in my two cents after finals end, but for now it's back to the books for me.
Wolf wrote:I think that everything that we talk about has quality of life ramifications for our parrots.
Pajarita wrote:Seagoatdeb, the studies were not all on ducks, there were zebra finches, shorebirds and sparrows as well as all birds in general. And the fact that ducks fly over long distances has nothing to do with predation danger (which is mostly present when they are in the ground) and its relationship to take-off speed and height achieved -which is what the studies are about and why I posted them. They just address the 'safety' issue.
I know your point is that mild clipping can be used as an enhancement to quality of life because, in your personal opinion, owners would take their bird more often out of the cage if the bird is clipped than if it isn't but I have never found a single person who says they clip for this reason and I've been 'doing' birdsites for many years now. For what I have read in postings and without actually doing any real research on the exact numbers, I would say that 95% of the time they cite 'safety' as their reason (they have dogs or cats, they have children that come in and out and leave doors open, they have family or room-mates that would not follow rules, etc) - the other 5% is because they can't control the bird otherwise or they want to assuage aggression. And, in my personal opinion, of these three, a mild clipping only addresses one: the 'human in control' argument.
By the way, a thread on quality of life is a great idea.
Pajarita wrote:I am getting a bit confused by your answers so let me recap what I understand and we will take it from there. We have already establish that a severe clip is a complete no-no - there is no question about that. We have also establish that, when we talk about 'to clip or not to clip' we are not talking about a temporary measure or a learning curve issue but a husbandry choice.
Your contention is that a mild clip would ensure a better quality of life for the bird because, for certain owners, it means the difference between taking the parrot out of the cage or not but (and correct me if I am wrong) you also state that these owners don't admit to this so (and I am not trying to be difficult or facetious) how do you know this to be a fact? Because, going by your post (which I could be misunderstanding), it seems to me that you are basing your entire premise on an assumption.
Now, I would enjoy threads on quality of life as a whole; whether information to newbies is better in bits or in a longer, more 'holistic' way; what is the best way to help cage-bound parrots and even whether parrots should be kept as pets at all but let's finish one subject before we go on to others, shall we?
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