The Displaced Bird: 

This country is facing an alarming epidemic of homeless birds. Exotic Bird Rescue's all the country over are full to brimming; many being filled to capacity.

There are many reason's for this but the most common reason is that birds make great companions but they make terrible pets.  An astounding 75% of parrots living in captivity in the United States are living in less tha suitable living conditions and the average parrot will have 10 homes in the first 7 years of its life.

 “The misconception that a parrot is tame because it was breed in captivity is one of the greatest illusions about this bird. Just as big cats raised from cubs in captivity still retain their wild instincts, even captive-bred, hand raised parrots remain wild. For example the majority of parrots, for their entire lives, will bite the hand that feeds them. It is not something that can be trained out of them completely” (Twita, 2009)  "The parrot is a naturally assertive,  domineering, and demanding creature, that upon maturity  will have hormonally induced "temper-tantrums" (Guide to a Well Behaved Parrot). Many if not most parrots are surrendered when they begin to become sexually mature. They are a handful, and it takes hours of fearless dedication to raise and care for one.

People have been taught by the media that birds are decorative and that you can buy one, put it in a cage, and have a pretty pet that is easy to care for and talks on command which has become a very serious misconception.  There are no real life gilded cages.

Did you know that wild birds NEVER pluck their feathers? This is something that we have caused in them. I am weekly faced with plucked birds who will never again have feathers. .  This is due to a few reasons such allergies, etc but the number one cause is lack of attention and stimulation and a poor all seed or pellet diet.. They are so unhappy that they are pulling their hair out!. Some even begin to self-mutilate, tearing holes into their bodies. The species of parrot called a quaker has even had a new captivity based syndrome attributed to it;  Q\aker Self-mutilation Syndrome.

Add to all of this that birds are demanding, expensive, loud and messy and it is easy to see why the unexpecting average parrot owner is seriously under-equipped to deal with their new bird.

Please take your time and consider wisely before buying or adopting a parrot. It is up to us, experianced parrot owners to do what we can to help tackle this problem.

For some further reading: