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For the Birds: Celebrating Adopt a Rescue Bird Month...with awareness

January 17, 2008, 11:37AM MT

By Charlene Arsenault

Story by Charlene Arsenault, Best Friends Network

As the National Humane Society reports, it is indeed “adopt a rescued bird month.” There’s a month for everything, and it’s hard to keep track. But that’s what we’re presently celebrating, and for animal advocates, the idea of keeping birds in captivity is a heated discussion. As Dr. Jane Goodall once said, “For me, the sight of a parrot living alone, living in a cage, deprived of flight and miserably bored. Breaks my heart. And the Parrot's too perhaps."

Closely paralleling the subject of puppy mills, the bird trade can be a nasty one, and is often not given the attention it should. Still, keeping birds in captivity is legal, and that means at the least promoting education and humane treatment in bird ownership.

That’s where people such as Marc Johnson come in. His group, Foster Parrots, located in Rockland, Massachusetts, is a sanctuary as well as an educational resource for those concerned about the plight of birds – both wild and in captivity.

He couldn’t have predicted that on the day he bought his first parrot in 1989, that he’d also make his first rescue, taking in an unwanted conure. It took many years and lots of more room to get a place where his efforts could blossom. “From that day in 1989,” he says, “if people were calling me to give up their parrot, for whatever reason, [it proved] something was wrong, or perhaps difficult, with keeping a parrot as a pet. This was something that evolved and became a cause that we could not turn our back on. Many people tell me that we have or had a choice as to whether or not we devoted our lives to this cause, but we argue that we had no choice because there was nobody else advocated for the injustices of caged birds.”

Since birds are social creatures on the same level that humans are, says Johnson, they need our particular attention. Socialization is possibly even more important to them, as they are prey animals and that flock represents security. “A bird’s intelligence, curiosity, sense of humor, need for affection and desire to connect,” he says, “are all fed and supported by an interactive relationship. Social isolation has profound damaging effects on birds. This is the way it is with all creatures of higher intelligence. Because we have deprived birds of the companionship of their own species in captivity, they depend on humans to fulfill their social needs. Sadly, we tend to fail them miserably.”

When asked what his basic opinion of keeping birds as pets was, Johnson says he borrows a response from Peter Wein of Connecticut: “If you have to cripple a creature in order to keep it as a pet, maybe you should rethink its suitability as a pet.” In other words, argues Foster, why should anyone feel that we should be allowed to alter the very essence of being a bird in order for us to satisfy our need to possess a status symbol or fad pet? “We’re taking away flight from the very symbol of freedom.”

The captive bird trade, says Foster, is rooted on the traditional practice of parental deprivation for the babies for the “misguided purpose of encouraging the human-avian bond.” Birds are usually deprived of parental care and nurturing. They are also deprived the ‘privilege’ of fledging, which serves to undermine their confidence both physically and mentally. “They are deprived of their gift of flight,” says Foster, “which is the very thing that defines them as birds, and they are forced to spend their lives behind bars without adequate social interaction, without adequate exercise and without nutritionally appropriate diets. What part of this practice isn’t essentially and fundamentally cruel?”

Foster goes on to say that he feels the pet trade is largely responsible for the depopulation of parrots in the wild, and is now responsible for over breeding and selling birds to people, while withholding the truth about not only their origin, but the nature of keeping them as a pet. “Worse yet,” he says, “is the fact that the pet trade is not willing to address the millions of unwanted parrots now being passed from home to home. The pet trade has proved to be parrots’ worst nightmare.

“Anyone can go into their backyard and capture a baby cardinal, crow or blue jay and raise them in their home. These birds will bond with us just as readily as parrots do. Just because a wild animal will create a bond with a nurturing human is no justification for keeping any wild animal as a pet. All large parrots are only one or two generations removed from their wild parents and grandparents. In addition, everyone knows what to expect when taking a dog at cat as a companion, not so where parrots are concerned.”

Among the bird keeping population, awareness is increasing, claims Foster. That is why overwhelming guilt is leading more and more of them to seek out sanctuaries such as Foster Parrots. “Unfortunately,” says Foster, “the sanctuaries are full and this option is becoming harder to find.”

There is little to no advancement in the effort to ban the sale of birds in pet stores, despite pockets of efforts. Some stores have found it uneconomical to sell certain types of birds, but the removal of these birds is not based on a sense of humanity, argue people such as Foster. “The parrot issue is not getting the attention it deserves in the AR/welfare groups around the country,” says Foster. “I have even heard that ‘the parrot problem is not important enough’ for most AR/welfare groups. Hmmm…with the intelligence of many primates and in the pet trade by the millions, perhaps 20 to 40 million with 2 to 5 million born into captivity each year in America, I wonder what is important enough.”

Click here for a list of bird rescues, state by state.

By Charlene Arsenault, Best Friends Network. Photo by Leo DaSilva.

Comments

Posted January 19, 2008, 6:35PM by forthebirds

Thanks for bringing this issue to the forefront. Our first bird had been "returned"--perhaps because the owner didn't understand the care and attention that would be required. Thankfully, they acted instead of simply leaving this beauty caged all the time. Thus began our many years of having birds in our family. The two most recent are special needs adoptees from BF. We've learned many lessons over the years and have the utmost respect for those who work dilligently to educate the public. Keep speaking up for our feathered friends.

Posted January 18, 2008, 3:43PM by jhayes

See the Avian Welfare Resource Center for a list of bird rescues nationwide and even some international ones. Even if you are not interested in adopting, you can donate or volunteer to help them in their efforts to save birds.

Posted January 18, 2008, 2:44PM by parrotguy

This is a great article Charlene! Lots of good information and some great quotes form Marc Johnson! Thanks!

To see some of our adoptable birds at Best Friends click HERE

Posted January 18, 2008, 5:50PM by MagsFarm

BRAVO CHARLENE! and MARC JOHNSON!!
This well-written article on awareness about parrots and the global parrot problem is so well done. Marc Johnson has such a perfect way of putting the problem into proper perspective. One of our main objectives at Parrots at Best Friends is to educate all the visitors, volunteers, and fellow staff members about the parrot overpopulation problem. We do outreach with school programs and other events when possible. There are so many parrots currently "in prison" in a variety of situations - more than enough to satisfy all the people out there who want to have a parrot in their home. Breeders could all shut down today and there would be far more parrots out there than there are suitable homes. It is such an enormously sad state of affairs. I compare it to the slave trade, which was also for human profit. People need to wake up and see the suffering these animals are enduring for our sake. Animal ethics are gaining ground - for all species. We need to do all we can to promote education and awareness for the parrots in captivity. We have "too many birds and too many breeders"!
Thanks for writing this timely piece~~
Maggie at Parrots at Best Friends

Posted January 18, 2008, 6:21PM by Noraandkids

This is such a good article on a very needed subject. I have three birds here and two are rescued. When my old cockateel died, my quaker parott was lonesome. Though they didn't share the same cage, they were company for each other. The quaker was a gift from my youngest son. I went to some petshops (shame on me) intending to buy a baby. But when I saw Rescue, I knew he had to come home with me. He was 2 years old, very thin, frightened and his feathers were rough, his beak overgrown.

I had his beak trimed and got some rough perches and special toys to help him keep it in good shape. I've had him two years now and he and Rascal are very close friends. His years of neglect still show some. He is not as strong and robust as Rascal, but he is no longer frightened and he seems much more healthy.

My daughter-in-law's father got a cockateel from a friend. He is an older bird and was severely abused. He was apparently burned, I don't know if chemical or hot water or fire. He is scarred where he was burned and has no feathers there. He has come a long way, physically and emotionally as well.

I hope this subject begins to get the attention it deserves and one day there will be no more birds going through what these two did.

Nora