by Pajarita » Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:31 am
Well, I agree but, at the same time, I disagree, Michael. Yes, cockatoos in captivity are very difficult to keep happy even when you give them freedom from a cage, company 24/7/365, the right diet, etc but the 'difficulty' is in keeping up with the right husbandry year after year after year and putting up with the chewing EVERYTHING they find and the loud twilight flock calls. The way I see it, the thing is that the greatest majority of them do not get what they need in captivity and this is their owner's fault 100% (because nobody takes the time to do the right research or has the right idea of what one can 'take' and for how long - we all think we can until we realize we can't). And, when they grow up living under the wrong conditions (caged for hours and hours, left alone for hours and hours, dry pellets or seed free-fed, human light schedule, etc), they get into the habit of screaming and screaming and screaming or plucking themselves naked while, if they had been treated the right way, they don't. I've had umbrellas, lessers and citron and they all ended up not screaming, not biting, etc although some of them did continue to pluck even when they got the right care.