seagoatdeb wrote:Again I will repeat, a modest clip does not deprive a bird of flying. There are many times that a parrot is stuck in a cage and the people are afraid to let it out because the bird flys up to where they cant get it. I would rather see a bird mildly clipped than stuck in a cage. Its that simple to me, quality of life trumps everything else. To have a clipped bird you must have the right situation for it. To have a flighted bird you must have the right situation for it. The clip should be modest if done, a bird needs to fly.
A modest clip deprives the bird of vertical flight which is the most effective exercise for birds (there was study done with clipped birds made to climb up a hill while flapping their wings and it was found that muscle utilization was less than 10% compared to vertical flight). Gliding is not really flying and it doesn't really provide any muscle utilization to speak of (and that's why migrating birds use air currents where they can glide for hours -because they are resting while still advancing).
I absolutely agree with you that quality of life trumps everything else but, to a bird, flying is a HUGE part of their quality of life and that's why people who cannot provide a safe environment or achieve a good relationship with a parrot (I agree with Wolf's comment) should not have them. I know my position is extreme compared to what most people say out there but I am firmly convinced that 90% of people who own birds have no business owning them because they can't really provide the living conditions the birds need to have a healthy and content life. And clipping them is part of my beef...
People are funny when it comes to birds and use a completely different standard from other animals. I mean, nobody would think of buying a horse if they didn't have a barn, a corral and a place where they can ride it but they think nothing of getting a parrot even though they cannot provide it with the bird needs. It's one of those things that makes no sense to me but it seems to make sense to lots of other people and, personally, I think the difference is that, deep inside and although they don't admit to it, they still think: "It's just a bird"