My friend completely cut off this bird's tail

[finchly]

I wouldn't call it abuse,

It is abuse. I don’t want to derail the thread from its happy ending (Cricketful got Pebble) but I believe you might be thinking of animal welfare, a baseline used by some authorities to determine whether neglect is happening.

Too me, this falls under maiming/ mutilation. Taking away a birds only means to get away from predators- plus his tail!
It is important that we are able to recognize abuse.

 

[brdfvr]

It is abuse. I don’t want to derail the thread from its happy ending (Cricketful got Pebble) but I believe you might be thinking of animal welfare, a baseline used by some authorities to determine whether neglect is happening.
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Too me, this falls under maiming/ mutilation. Taking away a birds only means to get away from predators- plus his tail!
It is important that we are able to recognize abuse.

Well, I'm an animal control officer, so I go by what the law determines as abuse (neglect). A cockatiel living in a home has minimal predators and (should be) protected by the owner. I just don't see cruelty here. If you think this is maiming, you've never seen an animal be actually attacked/ maimed by someone.
Does it suck? Yes. Would i ever do this to my bird? If course not. Is it cruelty? not in my opinion. We can agree to disagree

 

[Feather]

Well, I'm an animal control officer, so I go by what the law determines as abuse (neglect). A cockatiel living in a home has minimal predators and (should be) protected by the owner. I just don't see cruelty here. If you think this is maiming, you've never seen an animal be actually attacked/ maimed by someone.
Does it suck? Yes. Would i ever do this to my bird? If course not. Is it cruelty? not in my opinion. We can agree to disagree

On the contrary, I have seen animals actually attacked/maimed by someone. I have seen horrors I would give anything to forget. But just because there are worse actions that can be done against an animal, that doesn't mean this situation is anything less than cruel and abusive.

If the bird was well fed, had a clean cage etc. No I wouldn't call cutting feathers abuse as they do not have feeling and caused the bird no physical pain. It definitely will need extra care as it will take getting used to balancing without the feathers, but I had this happen from a proper wing clip on a bird as well.

Perhaps not directly, but recklessly chopping straight across the wings and tail ran the risk of cutting a blood feather or even skin, and it continues to run a high risk of injuring the bird indirectly from falls and crashes, to say nothing of the harm to his confidence and psyche to have his mobility and balance so drastically hindered.

I can take my cat and tie his legs together so he can't run or jump or climb. It wouldn't hurt him! He would still be able to hobble to his food, water, and litter! That wouldn't be abuse! /sarcasm

 

[Shezbug]

You do not have to inflict pain for obviously inappropriate behaviour to be abuse.
The behaviour/act has done many negative things, here’s just a few... left the bird off balance (vertigo is awfully frightening for humans who don’t instinctively perch up high), unable to move without unnecessary fear confusion and danger, unable to get away if needed and by the sounds of the description the excuse to do this was down to an inadequate cage size prompting an ignorant uneducated owner to do something that is highly inappropriate as I’m sure every human over the age of three would know.
I guess a lot of it comes down to the people enforcing the laws but animal control laws from what I’ve experienced are just like domestic violence laws in so many places, it seems it’s just easier to openly minimise the victims damage and harm caused by the offender as it’s too hard and too messy to stop or do something about the offenders behaviour so if the victim is still breathing all is roses once you separate the two.

 

[Zara]

@Cricketful Welcome to the Avenue Laura

So glad to hear you have taken Pebble home. His feathers will all moult out and be replaced with new feathers over the next year. In the meantime it is very important you keep him safe so he does not injure himself. Toy and Taxidermynerd left some good tips already, in lining the cage with some non `pilling fleece, lowering the perches and toys in the cage. You can also include some ladders to help Pebble get in and out of the cage. Some long rope perches to help him get to different places around the room. You may also want to line the floor around the cage and and areas he spends time, you can use yoga mats, pillows, duvet or some folded blankets.
As the old feathers drop and new one replace them, he may try to fly, or at least try to learn, so be extra vigilent and if you notice him falling in certain places, line that part of the floor. Putting decals on windows and mirrrors when he is starting to fly is a good idea too.

 

[Mizzely]

If someone tied a dog's legs together because they were mad at someone, that would be cruel but easily remedied. This person essentially did the same thing to this bird, except doomed it to months of recovery. He's now at risk of seriously injuring himself. Also, birds can lose all confidence about flying and simply no longer trust their own bodies FOREVER if they have too severe of a wing clip, which can have physical ramifications including heart diseases and a shortened lifespan.

The law might not think it's abuse but anyone who has ever survived a trauma that was done to them would disagree.

I agree with ladders; I'd zip tie them in place to make them not move, and if you're going to use rope, use the kind with the wire in the middle, otherwise it might be hard to walk across without the tail to help balance.

 

[Tazlima]

Well, I'm an animal control officer, so I go by what the law determines as abuse (neglect). A cockatiel living in a home has minimal predators and (should be) protected by the owner. I just don't see cruelty here. If you think this is maiming, you've never seen an animal be actually attacked/ maimed by someone.
Does it suck? Yes. Would i ever do this to my bird? If course not. Is it cruelty? not in my opinion. We can agree to disagree

I think we can all agree that the law covers the absolute bare minimum. Food and water? Not gonna freeze or bake? Not bleeding? Good enough. And I get it. A line has to be drawn somewhere and there are undoubtedly worse things to prosecute.

However, something doesn't have to be illegal to be cruel.

Verbal and emotional abuse don't leave physical scars on children, but they're undeniably abusive and can do severe, long-term damage. I don't know if animals can be said to suffer from "verbal" abuse, as I can insult my pets all day long and they never take it to heart, no matter how scathing the criticism. Emotional abuse though? Fear and confusion and stress? They can certainly experience that.

There are scenarios where cutting a child's hair becomes an act of abuse. Is it enough to get a child removed from the home? Not that I've ever heard of*. But that doesn't make it harmless. Certainly we can agree that a bird's feathers, which are vital to balance and locomotion, and capable of pain and bleeding, are at least as important to their well-being as a head of hair is to a human?

*I DO, however, know of a situation where it cost someone their job, and rightly so.

 

[BirdWorld]

Oh my God that is so depressing. That is horrible and abusive... thank you for saving that poor bird from a pathetic owner that clearly doesn't know anything about birds. I can't believe anyone would be so stupid as to abuse an innocent animal for revenge. This is animal cruelty and I hate it.

 

[tka]

Thank you for saving this poor bird. Like others on this thread, I am horrified by what this person did to him for such a petty reason.

Because your bird's wings and tail have been clipped so short, he will have problems balancing and navigating a cage. This forum has lots of ideas on how to adapt a cage for a bird with limited mobility: Special Needs Crossing

I hope that he will moult out these cut feathers but it will unfortunately take time.

 

[BirdWorld]

Well, I'm an animal control officer, so I go by what the law determines as abuse (neglect). A cockatiel living in a home has minimal predators and (should be) protected by the owner. I just don't see cruelty here. If you think this is maiming, you've never seen an animal be actually attacked/ maimed by someone.
Does it suck? Yes. Would i ever do this to my bird? If course not. Is it cruelty? not in my opinion. We can agree to disagree

 

[alyssanor]

omg , your "friend" needs her tail cut off like omg who cuts a little birds tail off , that bird is so innocent

 

[Miss Annamarie]

This makes me so angry, I'm glad you got the little guy though, you'll give him such a good life.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Something doesn’t have to be illegal to be abuse. It will be doubly hard to grow them back because there will be no surrounding feathers to help keep the new ones from breaking. It’s going to be a long, slow, frustrating process. There will probably be many broken blood feathers along the way, so be prepared with constarch. Keep everything very clean so any bleeding feathers don’t get infected. Pebble is going to love his new home and all the unconditional love he is going to receive from you.

 

[SandraK]

I fell in love with cockatiels after meeting my friend's bird. She had completely cut this bird's tail, primaries, and secondaries. I read up on cockatiels, including this forum, and learned how wrong that can be. I convinced her to let her grow out the bird's feathers. However, we recently go into a fight so she decided to cut everything again--four months of progress gone (and the bird was starting to fly!). She did it out of revenge by saying that I can't tell her what to do and that she feels it's best for the bird to move around the cage better. The trouble is she really cut the tail off--so much that I'm worried she's abused the bird. Is this abuse?? I ended up giving her several hundred dollars so that the bird is now in my possession and not hers.

Your so-called friend sounds like my ex-DIL (note the ex). She threw away an orchid my son had given her because they had an argument. Taking your anger out on something that did nothing to you to get back at someone else is nasty And I don't mean in a good way, either.

 

[SandraK]

Thank you all! She told me she was only letting her grow her wings out to make me happy and that cutting them helps her move better, that her tail got in the way. I have taken the bird, renamed her so that she gets a new life, and have given her a much better cage (cleaner and larger). I am going to take her to the vet soon just to get her checked out. I've been having issues with this friend--family friend--in other ways too.

Is this bird also male?? My friend said it was female but it's a normal grey and can sing (I had started teaching her when I visited), whistles, loves mirrors, etc. I gave her a unisex name (Pebble) versus her female name before.

Try talking to it a lot. There's a chance you may just end up with a talking tiel since it doesn't have any tiel company to whistle to. Some can and do talk - it's adorable to hear.

 

[Zara]

After I read this thread this morning I received a card from someone who sent me a beautiful tail feather from a ´Tiel who looks just like Pebble.... and it got me thinking... Is it possible to imp a ´Tiels tail?
@Macawnutz @Hankmacaw @SandraK @finchly ?

 

[SandraK]

I know it's been done with macaws @Macawnutz but I don't know about smaller birds. If so, I have a ton of saved tiel feathers ...

 

[Teckechick]

Thank you @Cricketful for helping this little one.

If you use the fleece blanket idea as suggested by others to help with falls you can put papers on top of the blankets to help with cleanup.

 

[Zara]

@Cricketful

. Is it possible to imp a ´Tiels tail?

I don't know about smaller birds. If so, I have a ton of saved tiel feathers ...

I would definitely consult with your vet and see if this is a possibility. It could really help the balance issues and help give your bird a little confidence back.

 

[budgieluv3]

I’m so glad you took this bird in. I want to give you a big hug!