Do we really know??

I have always been a pet lover. Although my experience with pets were limited to dogs, now I have included birds in my family. A few things my friends and others ask me are:

(1) Don't you think its cruel to put these exotic birds into the cage??
(2) Ghee aren't these dirty and damaging your house and furnitures??
(3) How do you know they really love you?? there is always a wild side to these birds and they would surely turn against you and then the damage would be too much!!
(4) what if you got married and have kids... these birds could harm them can't they??

Not that I am an expert but do we really know anything about the world other than ourselves. Lets try to find answers. A zillion years ago, we never knew the concept of pets. Even dogs were not in the realm of pets. we tamed them and used them to our needs. Then we got a little more attached and made them domestic pets. If that was possible then any species would be made a lovely pet, don't you think? ok i hear you.. may be not pythons or anacondas but lets be sensible here!! :)

Ok, here is my view on each of these question:

(1) Don't you think its cruel to put these exotic birds into the cage??

May be, if i was to capture a bird from the wild that knows its habitat and has all the survival instincts and try to put them in the cage and tame them then definitely yes. it is cruel and there is no word to even try to rationalize it. But think about birds that hatched in an incubator, hand feed and tamed from birth. All these birds see is human faces. If the bird's instinct is to be in flocks, these incubated babies think we are its flocks..

Birds like dogs or any other pets, have a personality of their own. Especially bigger breeds of birds that are more intelligent have a very unique sense of bonding capabilities. I have known some birds that think another bird of the similar species are intruders and are very possessive about their human friends.

if such a bird was left in the wild, true that over time they would learn to accept the other birds and be wild again, but wat are the chances that they wud survive the time needed to learn the survival tactics?? if birds like certain species of macaws that are huge and strong can become nearly extinct in the wild, i very much doubt the chances of domesticated birds learning to survive in the wild.

Having said that, what can we do to give these amazing creatures a better place?

My birds are in the cage only by choice. By that, i mean, their cages are always open. They get into the cage only to sleep. Now is it safe?? may be not. there are electric wires around the house hold that can cause harm to them. So what did i do? i baby proofed the apartment. hide the wires away from chewing. but just because i baby proofed it that doesn't mean they would not chew anything. so i need to protect my furniture, the alternative it to give them something they can chew on.. wooden toys... my best choice.

variety of diet and plenty of fresh water everyday, free around the house, lot to chew on and play around foraging toys to find food and treats, place to hang upside down and much more.. makes a happy bird that is safe and healthy.


(2) Ghee aren't these dirty and damaging your house and furnitures??

Yes, they are messy, but so are dogs and cats. Just b'coz we don't care about picking after our dogs on the road doesn't mean they are not messy. I could potty train my birds if i wanted to .. or over time they learn that they could poop only in the cage over the paper everytime you tell them no when they poop outside. i clean the place everyday and i spread newspapers to easy clean them. 50% of the job is made easy.

(3) How do you know they really love you?? there is always a wild side to these birds and they would surely turn against you and then the damage would be too much!!

Yes, bird do have behaviour problems like excesive chewing, feature plucking, screaming, etc., you can look at it as issues or you can look at it as their desparate means to get your attention. This only means that they do care about getting that special attention from you only becoz they want you. does that answer the question about if they do love u??

its their wild side that makes them what they are. Its is also the wild side in us that we forgot that scares us about such beautiful creatures.

(4) what if you got married and have kids... these birds could harm them can't they??

These are only perceptive question that try to push you off the track. As far as marriage goes, if two people don't want the same thing, then the question of marriage is off the table. Kids.. well yes, it could be potentially dangerous not b'coz these bird intend to hurt babies or kids.. its not like they like baby flesh. Its only their way of defense from sudden movements from babies or kids. if you provide enough space for your birds and prepare them for a new born in the house, for example, play them a crying baby noise once in a while even before your baby is born, they get used to the noise like any TV or radio noise and then when the baby is actually there the bird is not disturb with a new member in the flock. the bird gets his timely rest and so, he is his usual.

So my point here is, we are more smarter than them and thatz why we are in a position to give them a home and not the other way round.

The bigger picture here is, we probably shouldn't have created a market for pets, but now that we have done it and there are incubated babies of varied species that finds it hard to survive in the wild, the best thing to do now is to inhabitate them amoungst us. What do we need to do that?

(1) Increase awareness amoungst humans about the species.
(2) motivate kids to learn about them. I have seen kids who get so excited about seeing such exotic birds inside the cage that they abuse them from outside. Screaming at them, banging the cage or throwing things at them thru the cage. Kids should learn to be otherwise with these species. One thing i observe is if the parents are relectant about such pets, then they wait till the bird reacts to such abusive behavior of the kids thru the cage and scare the shit out of the kids about these birds. "i told u these are dangerous birds" WRONG.... learn and then teach!!
(3) May be start with smaller breeds of any species and then grow into them.

What can we achieve from this??

Simple, we all raise our voice for cruelty against women, child abuse, fashion shows etc etc.. why b'coz we can relate ourselves to those things. like wise, if i had a cockatoo as a pet, and if i learn that somewhere across the globe some cockatoos are put thru cruelty, i wud be able to relate to it and voice for them. else, i don't understand the need to even bother about it. if this continues then may be few decades later, we would be able to slow down on captive birds being bruetly forced into the pet industry. Who knows, we could even prevent some of these species from being extinct.

Remember we are the most smartest beings on earth and there is a reason why we have a special gift of knowledge. We may not be able to turn the table around over night, but over time we can achieve all we want. If birds all around the world can be admired and respected b'coz some of them are being domesticated, i think its a fair sacrifice. But, it also means that we learn about them and learn not to abuse them.

Lets make the world a better place for every being thatz been bought into life.