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keeping birds

Appolosmom

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I was speaking with someone and the topic of keeping birds came up she said it was a terrible and selfish thing to keep birds that they should be free she said to listen to the song born free I tried to explain to her that the birds I have would never make it outside and that living with people is all they know now I'm feeling bad that I have birds she was so angry any idea how you would have handled her?
 

hrafn

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By that logic it's selfish and cruel to have pets at all. Dogs were once wild animals roped into human society, just as birds have been. Does she have any pets? Then she's just as cruel as she thinks you are.

Our pet birds should be free. But they're not. And they need someone to look after them. Enter: us.

I'd love it if Taco was wild and free in the jungles of Brazil, and had never been abused and used. Or if Kamara was roaming the skies of the Congo, without her mangled feet and horrendous fear of everyone and everything.
But they're not.
Aurélie has never seen Brazil, nor Kraz the wilds of Australia.
They wouldn't survive there. They can't even fly.

At one point, someone somewhere in the world decided that each of my birds were pets, that they belonged among humans. I didn't make that choice, and neither did my fids. But since they're here, and I'm here, and I can make their lives enriching and fun and healthy, why wouldn't I?
 

cnyguy

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I might point out that my parrots were bred in captivity and were always intended to be companion parrots. If they were set free, it's unlikely they'd survive for very long at all. Setting them free would be far more cruel than keeping them in my home.
 

Love My Zons

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Well, the way that I would reply. They are captive bred birds, raised by Humans. That is basically all that they know. When a bird is raised by People and bonded to them, it's no different then a dog or cat with the bond they form. They are 100% dependents any way you look at it. But they have tendencies to be loud, destructive and can fly. Seems like a pretty good life if you ask me! Still being a bird, flying, destroying, playing and being doted on. They are still all that they are and happy because they know what they've been raised in captivity with Humans. Keeping one solitary bird IMO isn't the best situation, but having more than one of a same species makes life alot more fulfilled especially a more independent species.
 

Barbara jasko

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I've heard that comment before also. In a perfect world there would not be captive animals, especially the animals that are still close to wild which our parrots are. The way people captured our birds ancestors, maybe even their parents, was horrible and most died in the process. I would agree that parrots should have been left in the wild but it is too late for that now.
Don't feel bad. She is fighting a losing battle and should direct her energies into something she can make a difference with now. There are plenty of animal causes that always need volunteers.
 

Marvel_ous

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I've always thought of people like that and PETA a little like radical Islam. Something that should be okay taken to a crazy extreme. I'm a devoted animal lover, but I don't and never will support PETA or radical "Set all the dogs free!" people. Yes, animals should be treated respectfully and humanely, but people like that drive me crazy.

Connor and Roxy are perfectly happy where they are, I can tell that by how their eyes light up whenever they see me, they would do much worse out in the wilds, thank you very much.
 

melissasparrots

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You have no reason to feel guilty. I just plain don't understand the mentality that they "should" be free. I'm going to set one of my hawks free this week. I have mixed feelings about it. I caught him on my falconry license as a starving juvenile. He was not doing well for himself in the wild. He was not a great hunter for me, but I got him through the winter and he got some experience catching mice and things along the way. His feather quality sucked. Likely from being being at the mercy of whatever the parent's could catch and feed and having to compete with siblings. I let him molt in my back yard just to get some nice wing and tail feathers on him with a good diet. Then he went and got west nile virus and had to be tube fed for a few days and anti-inflammatories for a couple weeks. He came out of that okay. At some point I have to cut him loose and now is looking like as good of a time as any. The local adults are less territorial because their own babies have fledged the nest. No super cold nights on an empty crop. Lots of small animals to catch since the breeding season just got done. A couple months left of nice weather to practice being wild before it gets cold. But still, I'm not sure he's really destined to make it. Natural selection is a bi*** sometimes.

You have no reason to have to justify keeping a captive bred pet as long as you are keeping it on a good diet, providing vet care, toys, good husbandry and generally being a good owner. Some people are just anti...whatever.
 

Mizzely

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In a perfect world, do I wish that birds never made it to the pet trade? Absolutely. But they are here, they need homes. I can barely get some to eat the food I give them; how would they survive having to find it in all weather conditions?

Most people who say that stuff imagine birds in tiny cages with no enrichment. When I lost Koopa to the outside, I had people saying, "Good, I am glad she got out because a day of freedom is better than being locked in a cage all the time." ON MY LOST BIRD POST, In a group MADE to find lost animals!! How devastating!!

I simply replied back that this was a captive bred bird, she was not clipped, had a diet of pellets, veggies, grains, was caged only at bedtime and WOULD NOT survive outside. We cannot give them everything they would have in the wild but we can try our hardest to give them every ounce of happiness they deserve!
 

NirAntae

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My response is usually "Do you think all dogs and cats should be set free too?" (If they say yes, we have a difference of opinion so basic there's no point in even trying to converse.) Once upon a time, sure, maybe parrots shouldn't have been made into pets. But they have been. Unless you went to Madagascar and plucked wild baby lovebirds out of their nests (at least I think those are lovies in your pic?), you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. Sure, it gets under my skin a little when I hear some people talk about their parrot like they are the equivalent of a watch or a nice handbag... an inanimate possession. They should be at worst a beloved pet, and more like a member of the family - especially the brighter species. But ultimately, they are pets now. They have been selectively bred for generations - many, many generations in the case of the shorter-lived species. Many of them would no longer be able to survive in their 'native' habitat even if they were raised appropriately for reintroduction, simply because of the colors we have bred! (Look up documentation on what usually happens to albino animals in the wild, for example.) Domestication can take as little as 3 generations. Most companion parrot species have had well over the 10-20 generation 'standard' to be considered domesticated. Meaning, the pet parrots we keep are really no longer 'wild animals', and by some definitions aren't even the same species as their wild counterparts, just as our dogs are by some definitions no longer the same species as wolves, even though by strict scientific definition they are (they can not only interbreed, but the offspring of interbreeding is fertile, meaning they are still the same species; hybrids between closely related but separate species are infertile, such as mules (donkey/horse hybrid).)

TL;DR: If you don't think your pomeranian should be set free to run with a pack of wolves, then quit with the 'pet parrots should be free!' nonsense.
 

Appolosmom

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thank you I was just dumbfounded she did make me feel guilty but I love my birds and once you live with birds it's like my life would be empty without them I have all of my birds in large flight cages years ago I had a canary in a small cage but I did not know any better I don't think they even had flight cages back then we have come a long way
 

Love My Zons

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I would say that certain captive need birds, if given the right climate (FL or Southern CA) and places it isn't deathly hot or cold could make it and survive if they found a flock of wild like species. I'm fairly certain my Amazons would do well if they found other wild Zons.

Not saying it would be 100%, but seeing them forage and eat a hibiscus tree here (one I've had for years) the only issue I would speculate is their non fear of Humans. They would go to People.

The answer I would have really said to her is "have you been to a Zoo or Circus lately"? Then compare a wildlife or bird sanctuary to that and a loving home enviroment.

The end.
 

Matto

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It's a difficult question, one that is certainly not helped by humanity's romanticiztion of the "free bird." My birds are happy, and happiness is happiness, whether indoors or outdoors.
The lives of birds in the wild are "nasty, brutish and short". You could argue that there is a dignity to it. But that dignity is a human invention, not something birds understand or care about.
 

webchirp

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They won't survive in the wild since they are domesticated like cats and dogs. I love them and I'm doing all I can to make their life the best that it can be...if she can't understand that, then her wires are crossed. :hug8:
 

Hankmacaw

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One thing that parrots get from living in the wild as opposed to living in captivity is one half the life span of a captive bird. That has to count for something.
 

Love My Zons

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One thing that parrots get from living in the wild as opposed to living in captivity is one half the life span of a captive bird. That has to count for something.
Well the captive cockatoo that lived to be 82 years old is proof that they can have a long long life in the proper environment.

Your friend probably isn't aware of how many species of parrots are actually on the decline and are on the threatened list. Mostly that is due to humans going in with projects of deforestation you have to remember wildfires and even the heartbreaking photographs of the cockatoo that was so battered after the hurricane I know that gutted me even though it's a wild bird there was nothing I could do personally to help.


So when you think of all those environmental factors that cause the deaths and the extinction wild birds many captive birds are part of programs to bring them back in numbers with breeding programs.
 
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Appolosmom

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she's not a friend i don't even know her i was @ pet supply plus in the bird section just looking
 

Hankmacaw

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Be careful who you listen to and gauge the "kook" factor very closely. Lots of weirdos and misinformed running around loose out there.
 

Hankmacaw

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Well the captive cockatoo that lived to be 82 years old is proof that they can have a long long life in the proper environment.

We have two good examples, that I can think of, right on this forum. @Sarahmoluccan 's Zeus and @Macawnutz's Rosie, both lived over 70 years - more than twice their wild lifespan.
 
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