Many kids come into this world with dream jobs hard-wired into their brains. Doctors, firefighters, ballerinas. If cockatoos could enter the human workforce, though, there would be one job in particular they’d probably all dream about: working as a car-crash tester! You know, the person who pushes the button that sends a brand new $30,000 vehicle flying into a brick wall at 35 miles per hour, all the while cheering gleefully behind a safety-glass window.

And have no doubt, cockatoos would corner the market for that position. Nobody is better suited to being destructive. It's in their blood.

Many cockatoos will chew on and demolish anything within reach, usually within minutes. Think puppies are bad? Ha! For a cockatoo, no toy is complete unless it has been ripped apart. Not just toys, either. When asked what Seppi (Best Friends' charismatic socialite cockatoo) would most want to destroy, his caregiver Al smiled and answered, "a dining room set." No puppy could compete with that!

Anyone who has ever knocked over a line of dominoes or stomped on a sandcastle they spent hours building knows the secret joy of reducing things to a simpler state. The cockatoos at Best Friends live for that thrill, which means they have been trashing their toys at an alarming rate. Right before the holidays, too! Which means they may just need a little help from Santa.

Story by David Dickson
Photo of Sunny, the cockatoo, by Troy Snow

Would you like to give the cockatoos more toys they can destroy? Go here to see what all the animals are wishing for this holiday season: https://www.bestfriends.org/donate/wishlistsp04.cfm. Or, sponsor a cockatoo for someone on your gift list: https://gifts.bestfriends.org/03.cfm?AnimalType=bird&ItemID=3879&page=2

For this story and other great "Sanctuary Stories" go to the Best Friends web site HERE