Man, just looking at the pictures makes me feel lonely. Back in the 90's and 00's San Antonio Zoo use to have a successful breeding program for Red Tail Black Cockatoos with multiple breeding pares. They would produce young that would go to other AZA zoos. I found that many of the pairs were friendly to humans. There were a few cockatoos that would freely interact with me.
Back in the mid 00's San Antonio Zoo decided to transfer there Psittacine collection to other AZA. They went from having over a dozen breeding pairs to having only a hand full of individual parrots.
I miss being with the Major Mitchell and RTB2. It's funny I was watching a documentary and hearing the calls of wild RTB2s calling back and forth remanded me of the sounds of the San Antonio Zoo back in the early 00's.
As far as RTB2 as companion animals, they present all the same challenges as any other large cockatoo. They are not as common in US avaculture, even so there are a few people on AA that have them in the US. From what I have heard they are no more difficult to keep than a U2 or M2 cockatoo. But you must realized that the U2 and M2 are the most rehomed cockatoo because people get in over there heads with them. I suppose in the US they are not rehomed as often because private owners have to search high and low to get one and they usually do there research ahead of time.
In this statement I might be exceeding my expertise, but I have heard that they are not in general as much of a cuddle monster as the U2 and M2. In my short interactions with them, they seamed to act like a larger and less hyper Galah.
