Why you should NOT buy a pet bird

[Pajarita]

Article and video - and the video is going to break your heart in a million little pieces -I cried the whole time I was watching it...


https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsa ... -pet-bird/

[Michael]

I wholeheartedly disagree. Although there are people who should not have birds as pets or people who are cruel to birds, does not mean nobody should do it. Just because there are abusive relationships or many marriages end up in divorce does not mean that people should give up on relationships. Just because some people are horrible to their dogs does not mean people should not keep dogs. Just because some people abuse alcohol does not mean others can't be responsible with it. Etc etc etc.

Keeping parrots requires more time, patience, money, knowledge, and effort than more typical pets. Parrots are not easy pets. However, with the right attitude and information it is totally possible to have a mutually enjoyable and healthy relationship. There are bad apples out there and it is very unfortunate. The best take away is to do a better job ourselves with our birds, be good role models, educate and help others to do better themselves.

[Pajarita]

Michael, I think you missed the point. The operative word was 'buy' not own (although I do not like using this verb in connection with companion animals). Buying a baby bird, especially the ones sold in stores that are all from bird mills, is not only putting money in the pocket of animal abusers (did you watch that video? that poor, poor, poor little crying hungry baby getting sicker and sicker and weaker and weaker until it died - all alone and miserable for its entire short life!!!) but also contributing to the huge overpopulation problem. Adoption is the way to go - same as it is with dogs, cats, horses, pigs, guinea pigs and any other animal that is kept as a pet.

But there is also a HUGE difference between keeping a cat or a dog as pet and keeping a parrot. Anybody (and I do mean ANYBODY) can keep a dog or a cat well if they really want to (it's easy, not too expensive and the commitment is never more than 20 years) but VERY few people can keep a parrot well. It's not a matter of personal responsibility, wanting to do it, having the time and money or even education, it's a matter of not been able to provide them with their physical and emotional needs in a normal human environment for their entire lives no matter how hard you try. Their needs are too difficult to comply with (solar schedule and diet are very difficult, space for flight is another issue and let's not even go into the 24/7/365 close company requirement!), too exact (there is really very little leeway, you deviate a bit and the bird ends up dead at a young age) and for too many years (we are genetically programmed to relax our nurturing after a few years and discard it completely a few years after that but parrots need it for 20, 30, 40, 50 years!). Normal people with normal lives cannot do it for the duration - unless we are talking budgies in an aviary.

[Michael]

For sure there are too many terrible breeders out there. However, I have also met great breeders and visited their facilities that take great care. Instead of blanketly saying that people shouldn’t buy parrots or that breeders are bad. I certainly hope that breeders, just like parrot owners, would strive to do better. I encourage people seeking a baby parrot to get them from better breeders.

For example, avoiding breeders who feed all seed diets or cut birds’ wings already greatly increases the odds that the breeder is better informed and caring about the birds. I know breeders who are passionate about their birds. They choose to breed because they enjoy it and care for the birds and not because they are in it for the money.

I think it is best to judge and condemn specific actions, misdeeds, or individuals rather than an entire practice or industry. And yes, use the power of your dollar to promote better practices and welfare. Avoid bad breeders and let them go out of business. Parrots can never be seen as merely products.

[Pajarita]

Of course there are breeders that are better than others! That's a given! But a responsible person who decides to breed an animal because it loves it would study about that species BEFORE breeding it - and anybody who has studied and loves parrots knows that normal people cannot give them a good life as a pet so we end up with a conundrum, don't we? How can somebody who loves parrots and knows their needs justify breeding them for the pet trade knowing that it's impossible for any normal person to give those babies a good life?

And although I think it is wonderfully decent of you to believe that one should only condemn individual actions or individuals and not entire industries, it is a bit too idealistic for practicality, isn't it? I mean, we condemn industries all the time to the point of making them illegal or, at the very least, fighting to make them illegal: dog fighting, trophy hunting, crush videos, drug trafficking, money counterfeiting, credit card fraud, hacking, child pornography... and I could go on and on. I am also afraid that, to a breeder -any breeder- a baby bird IS a product (anything 'produced' for sale is, by definition, a 'product') and, as much as I would love to say: "From your lips to God's ears!", bad bird breeders will not go out of business for the simple reason that people who buy their baby birds from them are almost always not even aware of what constitutes good care so they couldn't possibly tell who is the better breeder even if they had more than one or two to compare. There might be some people who takes its time and looks for the better breeder but 99.9999% of people simply buy a baby bird from the first breeder or petstore they come across. And the breeder and the pet store employee will tell them that they LOVE birds with a passion, that they take real good care of them, that they are not 'in it' for the money, etc. etc. - every single time! Why? Because it's good business! I mean, who would buy a baby bird from a breeder that admits to not caring or a store that admits buying it from bird mill? Nobody, that's who! Of course the fact that they are selling the baby to whoever has the money and not giving them away for free to qualified homes is a dead give-away of what exactly their bottom line is but most people WANT to believe the good in other people so, even when they are very intelligent, they did their research and might have their suspicions, they choose to believe them and they still buy the baby. And I am going to go even further and tell you something else: sometimes, even when people see that the seller/breeder is a bad person or the store a bad place, they will still buy the baby because they see it as a 'rescue'. A couple of months ago I gave a kitten (for free, mind you, I do not charge a penny for any animal that I rehome) to a lady who admitted paying $150 for a kitten to a woman who had taken a litter of a feral mother, put them in a cage and sold them in CL. The lady knew she was actually encouraging this bad woman to continue doing this but she couldn't walk away and leave without taking at least one kitten off her hands. When it comes to animal suffering, good people would, sometimes, do the wrong thing for the right reason and this is why certain industries need to be made illegal or, at the very least, condemned.

Again, I am not against keeping parrots as pets - they are here and somebody has to love them and take good care of them. But buying a baby is a completely different story... and soooooo very unnecessary when there are so many fabulous birds waiting for a home in rescues or being offered all the time in CL, rescueme, kijiji, etc. Why pay good money to a person who regards the animal as a product when you can pay less money to an animal lover who put time, effort and even money out of their own pocket into rehabilitating/vetting/caring for the animal?

[janarbeth]

It's an old topic but not everyone is suited to be a bird owner, and sadly, some people mistreat their pets. But that doesn't mean that owning a pet bird is inherently wrong or bad. It's all about individual choice and responsibility.

[Pajarita]

Well, the problem with individual choice is that, given human nature, people tend to choose what benefits them. And, when you put people's desires versus animals needs, the animals always get the short end of the stick. If individual choice and responsibility was all that was needed in this world, we would not need laws, enforcement, trials or jails...

[amycampbell]

I personally have a couple of buddies, and we're doing great together! Keeping parrots as pets requires time, patience, and knowledge. They're not the easiest pets, but you can have a fantastic relationship with them with the right attitude and information.

[amycampbell]

Having a pet bird can be a lot of fun! You can provide them different toys and activities to keep them engaged and happy. If you're looking for awesome bird supplies, I recommend checking out a pet store. They have a wide range of products that make your bird's life even more exciting. You can find them at https://www.petzoo.com.au