by Pajarita » Wed Nov 26, 2014 11:24 am
Ay, my dear, you ask the same questions lots of us ask all the time. In my personal opinion, people would make pets out of anything exotic regardless of what that means to the animal itself. People keep tigers, lions, alligators, etc in apartments, basements, backyards... People don't really care much for the animal's feelings or comfort, they like the 'status' it brings. Take coatimundi, they run wild in my country of birth but nobody (and I do mean NOBODY) would ever dream of keeping one as a pet because of their aggression when they are adults - but people here in America buy them, have them declawed and defanged and keep them in cages. The poor animals suffer all their lives but do people care? Nope.
As to parrots, breeding them to be used as human pets is a very recent fad but, here in America, we managed to start a fad and end up with a huge overpopulation problem in a matter of 15 years - imagine that! Only 15 years and we already have such a huge number of unwanted birds that hundreds of rescues were created and are already all at full capacity! I had a bird rescue for 6 years and, without even advertising or telling anybody about it, I ended up with over 240 birds in less than two years.
And now, with the new training them for tricks, more and more people are buying babies... A terribly sad situation and it's not getting better, only worse.
As to our lone birds been stress-free and happy... I don't mean to rain on your parade but they are not. For one thing, any deviation from what nature evolved them to have causes stress (this is not anybody's opinion, it's a scientific fact which has been proven over and over and hugely studied because of animals in zoos and the stereotypies they present). For another, any social, intelligent being kept in jail all alone for the greatest majority of the day is going to be bored, depressed and anxious -unfortunately, there is really no two ways about it. And there are the studies, necropsies and all the behavioral aberrations so common to pet parrots that tell us this is so.
My birds live cage-free in a room fit to their needs (light, humidity, air quality, branches for perches, etc), they follow a strict solar schedule to ensure their endocrine system is healthy and functioning as it should, they are surrounded by other parrots and I do my very best to provide and encourage them to establish a special relationship with another bird, they get an organic fresh food diet with a large variety of produce, they get medical attention and my company and love everyday... my entire life revolves around their needs and nothing and nobody comes before their comfort (not even my family, a job, vacations, etc) - and still I know for a fact they are not as happy as they could be if they were living the life nature meant for them to have.
But don't take my word for it, do some research of your own - only do it right, meaning don't ask another bird owner: "Is your lone bird happy?" because they will all answer a most emphatic: "YES!" when, in reality, they are assuming it is. Go to science and see what they say about undomesticated animals living an unnatural life.
