If you can not guarantee your own economic security for the lifespan of the bird you want to put in a cage so badly perhaps you shouldn’t buy a bird?
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
So because you lose your job and have to move someplace with no pets, your a bad person for owning a Parrot?
Why limit it to birds? Don’t cats belong in the wild too? If you had to move to an apartment that didn’t allow pets because you lost your job, would you love people telling you what a jerk you were for owning the cats when you couldn’t even take care of them their entire lives?
Life happens, not everyone on the planet is an idiot when it comes to animals.
@Will: Cats are domesticated animals with a life span that pretty much maxes out at 20 years.
Parrots are wild animals with a life span that can reach 80 years.
I think responsible pet owners should be pretty darn sure that they can afford to care for their pet for the pet’s entire expected life span. If a person can not be at least reasonably sure of that then they should choose a different pet.
I have been to bird rescues and have seen how these intelligent creatures self destruct because they are bored and caged. Let’s be reasonable that people should consider adopting before they buy a bird. They should also only get one if they have the time to devote to it. I have a sun conure and she is out of the cage on average of about 4 hours a day. She is as much trouble as a dog if not more so. An African Grey or Macaw is even more work. Education is the key to having any animal. Parrots are not for everyone. They are beautiful, complicated creatures. While people do have changes in their lives that force them to give up their parrots, I’ve seen some that just don’t plan for what will happen latter and most of the time people give up parrots because they didn’t realize how much work they truely are. I say visit a rescue or several first, read some books, look at the costs involved before you consider owning a parrot. Or really mine owns me I have to say.
I have owned parrots and was a good “Mama” to them. They do, indeed, require more attention than dogs or cats. But the rewards are definitely worth it!
But are these really wild Parrots? In some cases (sadly) yes they were. But I bet a lot of these were bred, domestically and are therefore NOT Wild and DO NOT belong in the wild because they wouldn’t survive.
I’m just being difficult 🙂
@Will: I know you are just being difficult…but, the reality is, there are no domesticated parrots. Even those bred in captivity are still wild in terms of their behavior.
Yeah! Sure they don’t belong in the wild! But they also don’t belong to a cage. The minimum they require is a spacious enclosure in which they are able to fly a distance of at least 10 feet without disruption.