Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Off topic discussions that are unrelated to parrots and other parrot discussions that don't fit anywhere else.

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby liz » Tue May 02, 2017 1:09 pm

I go into every pet store I see just to check on their animals. I never buy from them. Even the caring humans at a pet store have caused breeding.

I order most everything I can't find in Walmart from Fosters&Smith. Walmart carries baby milk and little bottles with nipples.

We have a Craigslist. People who don't want their birds anymore list them on that.
Some of my birds came for owners who got tired of them. They also come from rescues that don't want to deal with handicaps. Most came from Craigslist including Myrtle.
User avatar
liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby Pajarita » Wed May 03, 2017 9:28 am

I don't mean to pop anybody's balloon of trust in people but petstores do not take their birds to a vet. A sick bird means a physical examination and, at the very least, blood work so we are talking what? $200 at a bare minimum? Do you really believe that a business owner is going to pay $200 to get a $20 - $30 - $50 animal well? Do you really believe that they sell these animals only to people who will take good care of them? How would they know? They are not going to check references or do a home inspection so they have no way of knowing if the person is going to be a good owner or not. As much as we would all like to believe that petstore owners, managers and employees love animals, I know several people who got a job in one thinking that they would be happy working in one and caring for the animals, they ended up quitting because they saw the reality of what means commercializing them. I don't know how it is in Ireland but here, petstores buy from birdmills in Florida or California because they are cheaper. If they bought from a good breeder, they would have to sell the bird for three times as much as they now ask and would not make any money at all. And I seriously doubt that many petstore employees know enough about birds... I once had an argument with a PetSmart manager (years ago) because they had a canary hen listed as a singing male. The bird was sitting on a nest with eggs and the idiot woman is telling me that males have been known to make a nest and lay eggs!
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby Navre » Wed May 03, 2017 9:45 am

Well, if people are allowed to just declare themselves male or female, why can't a bird? Seems speciesist, to me!!! :roll:
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1909
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Turquoise Green Cheek Conure
Hooded Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby ParrotsForLife » Wed May 03, 2017 9:48 am

Pajarita wrote:I don't mean to pop anybody's balloon of trust in people but petstores do not take their birds to a vet. A sick bird means a physical examination and, at the very least, blood work so we are talking what? $200 at a bare minimum? Do you really believe that a business owner is going to pay $200 to get a $20 - $30 - $50 animal well? Do you really believe that they sell these animals only to people who will take good care of them? How would they know? They are not going to check references or do a home inspection so they have no way of knowing if the person is going to be a good owner or not. As much as we would all like to believe that petstore owners, managers and employees love animals, I know several people who got a job in one thinking that they would be happy working in one and caring for the animals, they ended up quitting because they saw the reality of what means commercializing them. I don't know how it is in Ireland but here, petstores buy from birdmills in Florida or California because they are cheaper. If they bought from a good breeder, they would have to sell the bird for three times as much as they now ask and would not make any money at all. And I seriously doubt that many petstore employees know enough about birds... I once had an argument with a PetSmart manager (years ago) because they had a canary hen listed as a singing male. The bird was sitting on a nest with eggs and the idiot woman is telling me that males have been known to make a nest and lay eggs!

Nothing to do with Ireland in general I'm talking about that one pet store and I didn't say they take their birds to the Vet as they have a sick room and all I've seen in there was once a Cockatiel they found outside that was hit by a car and well obviously he had to go to the vet and he had the wing amputated.Im not saying they do house inspections or anything but they do ask questions and make sure they have the right size cage etc, Not many people buy Aviary birds here for pets, They breed the birds themselves and take them into the store.
User avatar
ParrotsForLife
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1725
Location: Ireland,Dublin
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Rocko and Loki, Cockatiels
Mango, Plum headed parakeet
Tiko, African grey, Oscar, BFA
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby Trick or 'Tiel » Wed May 03, 2017 4:37 pm

Cockatiels at the pet store I go to cost $125, and budgies cost $50. Most pet stores sell budgies for only $20. This pet store doesn't get their birds from mills. I've seen with my own eyes the birds being given medication from the exotics vet. The employees own, or have owned, parrots themselves and know how much care they require. Now, I agree with you 100% that Petsmart is terrible and cruel, they get their birds from mills and keep them in tiny, cramped cages. I will never support or buy from them. But the one and only pet store I go to isn't bad at all. You're right, they don't do home inspections, but they always make sure you're feeding the right foods and getting the right cage, toys, and perches. You may have never seen a good pet store, but they're out there. I 100% support adoption and parrot rescues, but that doesn't mean I think that all pet stores are bad.
Trick or 'Tiel
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 124
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby Pajarita » Thu May 04, 2017 9:30 am

Look, you sound very young and the young are, by nature, idealists -nothing wrong with that! plenty of time later in life to find out about all the bad out there- but I have seen many, many petstores and what you see and think you know is never the whole story. Petstores ALWAYS tell you they don't buy from mills - they would be stupid to admit to that as people would not buy from them if they did! And they always say the right thing -again, nothing but good business sense. But I will give you one example: Navre's rescue was recently involved in a terrible, terrible hoarding case (hundreds of birds, some of them quite rare and valuable!). The poor birds had been starved, left with no water, in cages so rusted that they had to cut them open to get the birds out - I mean there were dead birds in the cages and the ones still alive were in such terrible shape that, even after the rescue, they lost a lot of them to refeeding syndrome. And I later found out that the person who did this was either the owner or the breeder who provided birds to a VERY reputable petstore in Manhattan - a store that had been recommended to me by two different people as being so good and so conscientious about their birds. If you own a petstore and really take care of the animals in it, you don't make any money and you have to close it down. It's simple math.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby ParrotsForLife » Thu May 04, 2017 12:00 pm

Well anyways my pet shop don't make their money from the animals anyway and they only breed when its breeding season, I know them personally they don't sell thousands of birds just a few and they rarely have many Cockatiels like today there was just one adult.I don't even think there are bird mills here.
User avatar
ParrotsForLife
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1725
Location: Ireland,Dublin
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Rocko and Loki, Cockatiels
Mango, Plum headed parakeet
Tiko, African grey, Oscar, BFA
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby Trick or 'Tiel » Thu May 04, 2017 2:03 pm

The pet store I go to doesn't sell that many birds either. There is only one baby cockatiel there right now and they started out with two. They have a pair of lovebirds there that are currently breeding, a few budgies, and when they get sun conures they usually only have two or three. I think they had parrotlets once, and they only had two. They have a golden conure and yellow-naped amazon that live at the store, and they are taken out and played with a lot. I'm sure there are some pet stores, like this one, that don't buy from mills.
Trick or 'Tiel
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 124
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiel, Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby Navre » Thu May 04, 2017 4:23 pm

Well, I don't think there is an accepted definition of mill, so it's a hard question to answer.

I have a friend who worked at a large pet store chain on the US. The store sells small birds, but no big birds. He refused to sell a bird to a person who, for whatever reason, he determined should not be sold a bird. He got in trouble for it. Rather than trust his judgement, or thank him for not selling a bird to a bad home, they disciplined him.

Once you put a price tag on something, it's hard not to sell it. You can say all you want that you reserve the right not to sell to people who you think are inappropriate. I think a store should have that right, but God forbid the person you decide is bad for the bird is gay, or disabled, or is wearing a headscarf, or has a funny accent. You'll find out that the law doesn't allow for good judgement.
Navre
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 1909
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Turquoise Green Cheek Conure
Hooded Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: What About All the Animals Stuck in Pet Stores?

Postby liz » Sat May 06, 2017 6:30 am

Navre wrote:Well, if people are allowed to just declare themselves male or female, why can't a bird? Seems speciesist, to me!!! :roll:

:lol:
User avatar
liz
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 7234
Location: Hernando FL
Number of Birds Owned: 12
Types of Birds Owned: DYH Amazon Rambo
BF Amazon Myrtle
Cockatiels: Shadow Tammy Flutter Phoenix Jackie
Andy Impy Louise Twila Leroy
Flight: Yes

PreviousNext

Return to General & Off Topic

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store