Birds should be kept in cages!

[JaydeParrot]

The above title is what I was told by my 'know-it-all' friends of the family who told me that me walking around outside with one of my birds, giving a bird a cuddle or in any way interacting with my birds was 'just plain werid'.
The nagging friends of family claimed that I should find something better to do with my time rather than walking my birds outside and having people think that I'm a total weirdo. They then went on to tell me that dogs were for walking and interacting with and that birds were only for looking at and should be kept in cages!

I'm not writing this to in any way make a complaint about my life, I'm writing this to make a point. What does it matter what others think about you? Screw them! Your bird's welfare and happiness should take presetance over what ever anyone else says you should do. Don't let anyone ever discourage you from treating an animal with all the care, freedom and dignity that it deserves!

[KimberlyAnn]

I had a family friend (Of my grandmother's) say the same thing to me about my pet bunny, when I was a child. "Walking a bunny on a leash is stupid!" She told my mother..."Why would you let her bring her bunny on vacation? There is no reason for that. Rabbits are for eating." I haven't forgotten this.

But this same woman asked for all the zip lock bags, plastic forks, plastic cups we had (after they were used) So she could bring them home, wash them, and use them again. She also made her little dog clothing and the dog was permitted to eat at the table in a chair. Not that these things are crazy, but they are not the social norm. In spite of what she said, I do love her and all her own weird quirks. She's still going strong at 93 years old. She has a new little dog that pees and poops on everything, but at least she still to this day has reused plastic baggies to pick up messes.

Those in glass houses should not throw stones. I'm sure your family friend has some interesting quirks. If they don't...then they are strange and not taking chances in life to live it to its fullest. Good for you for experiencing life with parrots. I bet you come across a lot of people out on your walks, who's day ends up brighter just for seeing you. Maybe they have a story to tell someone later or they got to see and experience a creature they normally would never run into. Maybe that person is a child who will talk about that experience for a long time and draw pictures of your parrot. Sure, I bet there are people who think you are weird, but like you said...screw them. Lol in the end, you are giving to people who need that experience and that is the greatest good.

[AnarchoBoxer]

Is this sort of like "children should only talk when talked to?" Why, because someone else said so?

Being ignorant is one thing - we all are, and it's impossible to know everything. Simple ignorance can and should be easily forgiven. Being ignorant and being inflammatory and invasive about it is another thing entirely. Maybe you should show them how stupid they sound? Simply asking "why?" and letting them do the talking often works. It might also be a good opportunity to introduce them to the 'non-sequitur' since I'm sure this isn't the only topic for which problematic logic is employed by them.

[KimberlyAnn]

That's good advise for anything. Just ask why and then say, "thank you for your opinion" and change the subject. Maybe they will think about it, maybe not. But I just don't understand crushing people's joy when they are doing something harmless, like interacting with their animals. It's just not productive for anyone.

[AnarchoBoxer]

You could even argue they are urging her to harm her birds by treating them like goldfish or hamsters.

[Pajarita]

Their comments are very common. Believe it or not, after 25 years of marriage and having had this argument over a million times, my husband still says the same stupid thing to me every now and then when he gets pissed at the parrots (he does the repairs in the birdroom and, every now and then, Zoey would fly out to bite him). My friends and family don't because they all know I have a sharp tongue and couldn't care less about their opinion (they all think I'm crazy, anyway -LOL).

It's very hard for people to change their mind about something they learned when they were kids and 'birds belong in a cage' is one of them. It's the way people used to think back then when we did not know any better. But people change if you show them they are wrong. Not all of them but some will. My grandparents raised rabbits for food, same as chickens, and I grew up eating them. They also had a big dog chained to its house all day long (he was released at night to guard the property), he wasn't fixed, had no vaccines, never had a bath in his life and did not get any human attention except for me and my baby brother when we went to visit... and I did not think anything of it. Today, I am a vegetarian and an animal rights activist.

Don't take it personally, just explain things to them. Tell them you understand that this was the way we used to do things but that we now know better. Explain why it's unfair ("would you like to be in a jail cell for the rest of your life without having anybody to interact with in any way?" mention how isolation and life imprisonment is considered to be the ultimate punishment for the most hardened criminals), explain that there are many studies that tell us that these birds are highly intelligent and develop bonds of love and affection that last their entire lives. Explain about how we trick them into imprinting to humans so they would see us as part of their family and the responsibility this puts on our shoulders as owners to fulfill their hard-wired need for company). Explain about it's unhealthy for them to be caged/clipped all the time because of the way their respiratory system works and about every single animal on Earth needing sunshine exposure for calcium absorption.

Don't get offended, don't fight, don't patronize, just explain and ask them to do a bit of research about it if they don't believe you, and you will see that some of them will listen to you and, even if they don't agree with you right away, they will think about what you said and wonder if you could be right. That's the first step toward looking at things from a different perspective and that's all it requires, actually.

PS I hope you are not taking your bird out in the open without a harness. That is VERY dangerous.

[AnarchoBoxer]

^ Good advice. Though, the principle of charity only goes so far with me. If someone, despite a barrage of information and opportunities to learn (we have Google in our pockets), still holds onto what amounts to prejudice based on aesthetics, it's hard for me to be nice to them. I'm not saying you or anyone else shouldn't, this is just the case for me.

Was there a particular moment in your life that changed how you look at the treatment of animals?

[Pajarita]

I've always loved animals. My mother used to tell the story of how I rescued my first animal when I was 8 years old (I brought in a little feral kitten a night watch at a construction site had found -I waited until it was dark, went out -without permission, of course, and brought it back hidden under my coat) and I've always known they had feelings and smarts but I have become more and more active and more and more radical in my views as I learned more and got older. For example, I had dreamed my entire life of working in a zoo and volunteering with animals (I've always adopted/rescued, never bought but I was never militant about it) but life interfered until after I had cancer. This was my epiphany because I realized that if I wanted to do something, it simply could no longer wait (it also made me set new priorities and more strict values in life). I took courses, took the written and oral exam (it was a presentation/thesis on quakers), got my certificate and started working weekends on a local, small zoo that has a very good reputation. I did not last the entire year. I HATED it! People think that zoos are good places for animals but they are not. They are just another type of animal exploitation for human entertainment and almost as bad as circuses. Animals suffer in them. And the people that work there are quite callous about the whole thing...

But, what really opens your eyes is volunteering at a shelter or rescue. Lord, what incredible heartbreak that is! You would NOT believe the huge amount of people there is out there that don't treat their animals right - a perfectly good, healthy, young dog that is put down because the couple is divorcing and cannot reach an agreement on who is going to keep it. An indoor cat that is not fed because he pees everywhere (they never fixed him so he was marking territory) and later thrown out of a third floor window. A dog that weights less than half what he should and has gangrene in a leg because it got stuck scratching himself in one of the many mats covering his body and was not getting enough circulation. An ancient sweet, sweet Labrador left in a crate in the middle of the night, during the winter, outside the door of the shelter. An amazon that had both his feet burned because he bit. A cockatoo that lived 2 years in a closet because she did not like the new husband (she self-mutilated by the time she was rescued). A CAG that did not accept a mate so she was left in the dark for months and had no feathers except on her head and almost catatonic when rescued. An avian vet that went from breeder to breeder charging $5 to sex hatchlings by inserting an endoscope into their vents without any anesthesia or sterilizing (and then people wonder why their bird has issues when it grows up!). And I could go on and on and on... People are incredibly unfeeling when it comes to animals and the worst part is that these are 'normal' people, with families and friends and jobs, nothing psychotic about them, just a lack of empathy for animals... And they will tell you they are 'animal lovers'!!!!

So 'birds belong in cages' is nothing. They are just words. Not the words one would want to hear but they are still nothing compared to what people do. Look at this morning news: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/55164524/ns/l ... 3IN-hdOXVI

[Wolf]

I know what you mean. I don't go to zoos or any places like them because I have an anger issue over animal cruelty. Because of my issues, I was arrested and convicted of felony assault when I was caught very calmly beating a man with a bullwhip that I took from him when I caught him beating a 6 month old colt to tame him. The man only spent 3 days in the hospital and I still think that he got off light. So I avoid certain places, I am 60 now and ,I was 17 at the time, not that it makes any difference.

[AnarchoBoxer]

@ Pajarita: I volunteer at the Humane Society here in Tulsa, and yes, it is heartbreaking. I hate the way many people treat animals as adornments rather than companions. It is however rewarding to see them going to loving homes, and the staff is made up of great people.

@ Wolf: I've always said I'd shoot a man for posing eminent threat to my animal loved ones the same as I would for my human loved ones. I wonder if that's some sort of felony? Let's just say I can't blame you for what you did. I'm not sure I'd have any more restraint if given the same scenario.