Why did u get a parrot

[Pajarita]

Yes, indeed. Parrots are the number one companion animal that is most misrepresented in movies. I haven't seen a single one that actually shows good husbandry... look at Rio with his having cookies and milk and brushing his 'teeth' with toothpaste! And don't even get me started on the cages they show them to be in! OMG! Useless things every single one of them!

[galeriagila]

Thanks for the affirmation!!!!!! YESSSS!!!!!

[Chantilly]

Yes, indeed. Parrots are the number one companion animal that is most misrepresented in movies. I haven't seen a single one that actually shows good husbandry... look at Rio with his having cookies and milk and brushing his 'teeth' with toothpaste! And don't even get me started on the cages they show them to be in! OMG! Useless things every single one of them!

Yes, Rio was very bad in that aspect, although I enjoyed the movie :as a story, and animation: the whole realistic, safe and parrot health side of it was very wrong.

[Wolf]

Actually, when something is advertised showing that it is a cartoon type of animation, I do not expect anything to be represented in an accurate or even realistic manner. I would be in big trouble if cartoons were my only source of information. If I am expecting accuracy and or realistic, I try to find documentaries and even then accurate and realistic views into the world of parrots, especially involving captive ones, are painfully missing even in the documentaries. Yes, some of them show a naked parrot due to feather plucking, but they rarely show how this developed and/ or what it takes to prevent it in the first place.

I don't expect much reality in a cartoon, but documentaries and other supposedly informative shows are a bird of another color.

[Pajarita]

Yes, granted that cartoons are not usually what one would call realistic in their story lines or even representations BUT I think that, when it comes to things that could mean life or death for the animal (chocolate for a parrot?!), it behooves the people in charge to be a bit more careful. Children learn right and wrong when they are very little and, almost always, the wrong concept learned early in life persists into adulthood so, in my personal opinion, this creates a responsibility that is often forgotten. I used to give chats about parrots to pre K children (and still do a couple every year in the summer camps my grandchildren go to - they all LOVE Freddy and he is such a ham that he actually enjoys their attention) because what they learn at that age will influence their complete outlook about parrots (or any other animal for that matter - I also used to it with handicapped dogs) later in life.

[galeriagila]

I agree... cartoons I can excuse, I guess, but inaccurate documentaries, worse, and Paulie-type movies are the worst... even though I own it and enjoy it!

[Wolf]

While it may sound like I am giving the cartoon versions a free pass, but that is really not my intention, because they could also be used for educational purposes and I have seen a few in my life that were used in that capacity, I don't remember what they were, just that they do exist, probably locked away in some obscure film vault. But as a general rule they are rarely used for education.

[galeriagila]

I'm sure that's true, Wolf. I just think it's sad that living, sentient beings, "just animals", are so OBJECTIFIED that no thought is given to real life impact of productions. I doubt it even enters the minds of the makers... especially with misunderstood "exotics" like birds.
Grrrrrrr.

[Wolf]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I think it is part of the thought that humans are above everything else. Instead of seeing the dog or cat or the bird as a living being with the same feelings and similar needs as the human they consider it to be just another thing like a radio, take it out and fiddle with it until you are tired of it and then shove it back into the closet until you feel like playing with it again. I think that the whole concept that an animal has thoughts and feelings and need most of the same things as humans do makes many people feel uncomfortable as it infringes on the thought that humans are so superior to animals as to make them something else entirely. Humans do not seem to like thinking of themselves as just another animal.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I agree with the anthropocentrism theory but I also think it's that people THINK they know about birds when, in reality, they don't.