Parrots Are NOT Pets

[Grey_Moon]

It is true all of what you have said.

But if the only place they can survive is as captive animals in zoos or as pets then it is IMO very necessary to breed the wildness out of them because it is that wildness that causes them so much grief and stress in captivity due to how incompatible that nature is with the environments in which we raise them.

IF we have to keep them as hostages for their own benefit with no hope of ever restoring them to their rightful homes in the wild---we might as well make them comfortable while they're here. Doing that would also open more available homes to them as well.

Its a sad and sick reality I agree. Which is why I hope we manage to achieve that sort of global radical change at least sometime in the future.

[Michael]

we might as well make them comfortable while they're here. Doing that would also open more available homes to them as well.

Exactly the case for taming and training. Domestication will take hundreds if not thousands of years. Yet with their highest capacity for intelligence, it cane be achieve in less than a year with each individual bird using taming/training. It's an ongoing process but virtually any parrot can be taught to step up, not bite, and be touched in less than a year.

[friend2parrots]

hi guys, FYI i edited my previous post a little bit, i think we are all typing away at the same time here so i wasnt sure if you had the chance to read the final version.

Yet with their highest capacity for intelligence, it cane be achieve in less than a year with each individual bird using taming/training. It's an ongoing process but virtually any parrot can be taught to step up, not bite, and be touched in less than a year.

SO TRUE!!! this is why it is not necessary to domesticate parrots at all!! we dont need to take the wildness out of them! let them remain in all their glorious wildness. as Michael points out, they are SO darn smart that good sound training can enable them to be every bit as well behaved and adjusted as genetic modification through selective breeding for personality would achieve! i say, keep parrots wild, but EDUCATE EDUCATE EDUCATE parrot caregivers/guardians/custodians on how to properly train, and live with, a parrot.

[marie83]

Its time we people started taking responsibility and stopped breeding so much and taking over the planet, one day theres going to be nothing left to take and every species will become extinct, including us.

just for clarification - when you say "breeding" in the above quote, do you mean the breeding of humans, or parrots? if you mean humans (i think that's what you mean) then I totally agree with what youve written.


the only thing that can realistically preserve the existence of "parrots" into future centuries is captive breeding.....................

............. because if parrots can't live in their true forest and desert homes because we've destroyed that, then at least we can offer them some other place to exist - even if it is the pathetic substitute of our homes, zoos, aviaries, etc. I think that's better than a horrifying world with no parrots at all a century from now.

Yes I most definitely mean us, we should be limited as to how many children we are allowed to have. Now this is very harsh and I know the majority will not agree with it but i don't believe it is our human right to get our own way all the time, our greed for everything is costing the earth quite literally.
In nature populations rise and fall, this obviously maintains a sustainable balance. With people we grow and grow, growth cannot carry on indefinitely without a crash, how bad that crash will be and exactly when it will happen who knows but I do know we will destroy everything possible in the processes leading up to that crash.


As for the parrots and indeed other species it is difficult, you are right as in captive breeding is the only way to save alot of species but what good is it when I have a green cheek at home with me? he has been reared as a pet, he isn't suitable to be released into the wild or have the ability to raise the sort of offspring that would have the instincts and skills to be released into the wild, thats if he would breed at all because he is so imprinted on humans despite being co-parented. Ollie is no use to the conservation of his species, I dont know the status of wild green cheeks but I am using him as an example because most of the endangered species are the same.


I don't believe we can undo the damage we have already done. I do believe if we bring in drastic drastic changes to the way we live and stop being greedy, control our population etc then we can drastically slow down the damage we are doing although I don't think we will ever stop it entirely. I say this and I'm not even entirely convinced about the whole global warming thing being a man made phenonemon. Absolutely the planet is warming- there is no doubt there, whether or not thats being speeded up by us or not is what I'm not convinced by.

What good is having parrots in zoos if we run out of land to grow food for them and us? If the world is so polluted that we lead lives that are plauged with death, injury and illnesses? People say we will evolve to adapt to live to be resistant to pollutants, this may well happen but evolution does not happen as fast as we are killing the planet.

A century from now this planet will not be recognisable as the one we live on today, if we carry on the way we are. Sad but true.

I never used to see it, I never used to believe there was anything wrong with keeping pets, breeding them for colours, putting them in cages and keeping them in houses which must feel like prisons compared with their natural territories. even though they never knew a life in the wild they still have their instincts and we are suppressing those. I never realised how many trees people cut down, after all it isn't happening in my back yard so being told the situation isn't good isn't really an eye opener, really I was pretty god damn ignorant. I didn't care if all the lights in the house was on etc. This past couple of years my eyes are being opened a bit more every day, I would prefer to have my head in the sand still but now I just do what I can. There is so much more I want to do to help. I'm with grey moon, animals, some more than most, should never have had their lives ruined by us, now I will never again buy from a breeder, petshop etc but will try to help the already damaged souls than encourage the breeding of more.

[CaitlinRice413]

[CaitlinRice413]

[Grey_Moon]

Caitlin----in the future---keep the claws sheathed permanently alright?
No place for that.

I am on this forum because, for the most part, the people here have daily lives caring for parrots as I do, and discussions/stories on the subject interest me and I enjoy talking about what I know/how I think.

I'm not 'calling it something else', I honestly do NOT feel that I own her. I do NOT own her and no, for me if she was lost or taken from me I would not be claiming ownership so much as looking for the dependent who was taken from my family. I care for her and am responsible for her, but I object to the 'keeping' of another life for my personal amusement---and yes, I feel its wrong.
As far as I'm concerned, though not from a rescue she is a rescue bird, there are some who feel differently and thats fine.

It bothers me when people use the word 'pet' due to the implications people have/assume from that word and the results for the parrot.
Words and their particularities are important to me and a lot of people don't stop and think about the power of words.

I keep my mouth shut a lot of the time because I realize I'm a minority for this way of thinking.
I feel the way I do because of what I have suffered and what has happened to me, because like you I have experienced the nasty side of people.

[friend2parrots]

from what I can see it is clear from both your posts, Caitlin and Greymoon, that you both absolutely love and adore your parrots and all parrots in general. thats the important thing. this whole topic is a pretty sensitive one so dont worry about upsetting anybody caitlin, youre in good company here , and grey_moon, and i as well, know exactly how you feel.

i actually think its just not possible to "own" a parrot - they won't let you! every parrot that I have ever had the privilege of knowing or meeting or having in my house has always made it clear to me that it has its own mind, and insists on being itself. they are like having a friend or roommate live in your house.

i don't mind either way what people who keep parrots call themselves - owner, caregiver, parent, parront (my personal favorite ) guardian, friend (another favorite of mine) , custodian, stewards, caretakers, etc, you name it - in the end it doesnt matter to me, what counts is that the person who is caring for and keeping the parrot is devoted to meeting the parrot's needs to the best of their ability. and as i spend more time on this forum i can see that everyone on this forum is really devoted to their birds like that, which really warms my heart - it gives me a good happy feeling amidst the depressing news of habitat destruction and pollution and all that other stuff weve been talking about that haunts us little Earthlings...

[4theloveofbirds]

Love that I found a board of such passionate bird lovers...... But darn you all are long winded...... And I like it! Lol

[liz]

I opened my home to these little guys. Some I know were living terrible lives and the others can't tell me what they have been through. They are my family. I treat them like children and they learn that way. Even my cockatiels in a flock know their names and each other's. My furries are the same. If I call one and it does not come, one of the others will go look for it.

They are my family. Every last one of them.