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Sorry. Trying to "tag" the thread, hoping local people will find this thread.
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Navre wrote:Visitors sometimes say things that make me worry about their suitability to adopt.
Being too concerned about a bird's naked chest or barbered feathers: People will seem to interact well with a bird, love its personality and its antics, but they keep asking about the bare chest, and if the feathers will grow back.
What I say:I explain that many of our birds have had a hard life. Even when a bird is well loved, captivity is far from ideal and plucking is going to happen. I try to assure them that they won't even notice the bare chest after a while.
What I want to say: You should probably just buy an nice picture of a bird, or buy a stuffed bird. Or just tell people you have a bird. If it's a status symbol or a trophy you want, lying will work. They're living effing creatures, you idiot. I have scars on my face and I bite my fingernails. Get over it. By the way, your kids are kind of ugly, you should consider re-homing them.
Being too Concerned about if a bird talks, if it will learn to talk, or how much it will be able to say
What I say: I explain that some birds talk and some don't. Some species are more likely to talk, but there are no guarantees. I explain that some birds ra rely talk at the rescue but talk up a storm once taken home (Nadia, Sebastian). I explain that they can all communicate whether they can talk or not, and it just takes paying attention.
What I want to say: Al Gore invented the Internet primarily for cat videos, but there are a ton of YouTube videos of talking birds. Pop one of those on, occasionally. Remove the watermarks and tell people it's your bird. You will get a lot of likes and new followers on Instagram. Birds also communicate by biting. Have you seen Maya? Let's open her cage.
Do you think this bird will be noisy?
What I say:All birds can be noisy. Especially at dawn and dusk. Paying attention to the bird will help, but sometimes they just scream because they're a bird and they're happy. The bigger the bird, the bigger the scream, in general.
What I want to say: I am wearing earplugs. Why do you suppose that is? You had to ask me that question 3 times because I couldn't hear you over the noise. We go outside to talk. What do YOU think?
Navre wrote:You're missing the point. I give them polite, informative answers, but sometimes I feel like I'd like to say the other thing.
And it is often annoying when people come in so concerned about superficial things like a bare chest. It stands in the way of them finding the best bird for them. In reality, most people who are very concerned about these things never adopt.
I do agree that education is one of our most important functions. It's important to remember that all the real parrot experts have hollow bones, and feathers.
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