My name is Don (for short), I've always had birds . . never too many though, well never as many as I have now . . 2/3 of the original cast members are still here . . there are now (since yesterday) an additional 2 birds in my house. They are a bonded pair comprised of a Moluccan Cockatoo and
But let me take you back to where it all began, around 1988 - the first bird was Sunny, she was a Sun Conure (creative name huh?) . . my parents got him about 4 years before I was born. She was a beautiful bird and very nice when you took her away from her cage and lover Salty. We got Salty, a Blue Crown Conure about a year later (I still had not been born yet). Salty is originally from the wild of the rainforest in Columbia. He was captured and sent through customs for the pet trade. He made his way through 9 previous owners before finding his way to my family, we got him as a companion for Sunny. His behavior influenced hers and before long the birds were shunned, constantly blanketed or kept out of view and only taken care of by my dad. Sunny began to pic her feathers later, once she moved in with my dad and she got proper sunlight that problem stopped and she was back to looking like the beautiful Sun Conure specimen that she was. Since Sunny passed in 2004 (kept laying infertile eggs, got weak and then had an egg lodged in her . . veterinarian scheduled our follow-up visit a week too late) Salty has been alone in a cage alongside Dakota's. Are we doing him justice? No, I don't believe birds should be kept in captivity in a widespread fashion. There should be stringent limitations and licensing processes. Once that happens they should be made available to the buyer, the process should be highly regulated and require annual registration of the bird. I mean what did the soul of this animal have to do in a past life to be committed to a cage for the duration of their lifetime? I hope to someday have a National Geographic or Animal Planet special on reuniting Salty with his original flock in Columbia. Someday I will pay the expenses to make that possible, and to fortify their habitat with a plentiful supply of good, he deserves it. Around the time I began handling Dakota (my friend described below)
I have an African Grey named Dakota, he's about 18 years old now, I've had him since I was 4 years old and we grew up together for the most part. He (like me) was bounced from my mom and my dad's house, originally living in the house that my dad left and then moving in with my dad (although purchasing this African Grey wasn't his decision) . . I would hold him and pet him a lot, he just a baby but he bit me when I was 5 and since then I was always scared to handle him, from then on Dakota and I lived together but I refused to touch him until within the last year or two . . Once I began handling Dakota I realized he was just as a nice of a bird Dakota is a different case but before that I had always wanted a Moluccan Cockatoo, I would have my dad stop me at a pet store along the way to my mom's house where I would spend hours playing with the bird they had (they usually had 2-3 Moluccans) the pet store owner realized most people weren't fit for them and he would tell that to all people who inquired about the gentle creatures, like a good pet shop owner should. At the time was just a bit too much for an apartment dweller like ourselves and in retrospect I'm glad we never got one then. Dakota's different though, he's a friend and I'm sure if he saw his reflection and realized he wasn't a human he'd freak out
Anyway, yesterday I'm driving through Las Vegas when I pull into a gas station (only $3.20 a gallon at the Chevrons, inferior gas was available for as low as $3.02). As I walk towards the fore I notice a woman with a cage, when the cage first crossed my line of sight I didn't even recognize what was in it. Upon closer examination I discovered a mangled feathery bunch that proved to be a Moluccan Cockatoo and Umbrella Cockatoo huddled together. I politely asked her purpose for having them out there like that in the condition they are in . . I was informed that they are breeders, and she had eggs with her for sale and babies available to people interested. I'll reserve judgment because maybe I was meant to meet her, but the person with her seemed like a substance abuser. To paint a picture *cues soundbyte of woman responding to why she does this* . . "I get money . . oh ya, I get money" My first thought was, how can I get these two majestic creatures out of this woman's possession . . how many more birds does she keep?
I offered her a lump sum of cash in my pocket, a small fraction of what they would be worth in a pet store. My next threads . . and corresponding blog will detail the condition of these birds and their recovery
But let me take you back to where it all began, around 1988 - the first bird was Sunny, she was a Sun Conure (creative name huh?) . . my parents got him about 4 years before I was born. She was a beautiful bird and very nice when you took her away from her cage and lover Salty. We got Salty, a Blue Crown Conure about a year later (I still had not been born yet). Salty is originally from the wild of the rainforest in Columbia. He was captured and sent through customs for the pet trade. He made his way through 9 previous owners before finding his way to my family, we got him as a companion for Sunny. His behavior influenced hers and before long the birds were shunned, constantly blanketed or kept out of view and only taken care of by my dad. Sunny began to pic her feathers later, once she moved in with my dad and she got proper sunlight that problem stopped and she was back to looking like the beautiful Sun Conure specimen that she was. Since Sunny passed in 2004 (kept laying infertile eggs, got weak and then had an egg lodged in her . . veterinarian scheduled our follow-up visit a week too late) Salty has been alone in a cage alongside Dakota's. Are we doing him justice? No, I don't believe birds should be kept in captivity in a widespread fashion. There should be stringent limitations and licensing processes. Once that happens they should be made available to the buyer, the process should be highly regulated and require annual registration of the bird. I mean what did the soul of this animal have to do in a past life to be committed to a cage for the duration of their lifetime? I hope to someday have a National Geographic or Animal Planet special on reuniting Salty with his original flock in Columbia. Someday I will pay the expenses to make that possible, and to fortify their habitat with a plentiful supply of good, he deserves it. Around the time I began handling Dakota (my friend described below)
I have an African Grey named Dakota, he's about 18 years old now, I've had him since I was 4 years old and we grew up together for the most part. He (like me) was bounced from my mom and my dad's house, originally living in the house that my dad left and then moving in with my dad (although purchasing this African Grey wasn't his decision) . . I would hold him and pet him a lot, he just a baby but he bit me when I was 5 and since then I was always scared to handle him, from then on Dakota and I lived together but I refused to touch him until within the last year or two . . Once I began handling Dakota I realized he was just as a nice of a bird Dakota is a different case but before that I had always wanted a Moluccan Cockatoo, I would have my dad stop me at a pet store along the way to my mom's house where I would spend hours playing with the bird they had (they usually had 2-3 Moluccans) the pet store owner realized most people weren't fit for them and he would tell that to all people who inquired about the gentle creatures, like a good pet shop owner should. At the time was just a bit too much for an apartment dweller like ourselves and in retrospect I'm glad we never got one then. Dakota's different though, he's a friend and I'm sure if he saw his reflection and realized he wasn't a human he'd freak out
Anyway, yesterday I'm driving through Las Vegas when I pull into a gas station (only $3.20 a gallon at the Chevrons, inferior gas was available for as low as $3.02). As I walk towards the fore I notice a woman with a cage, when the cage first crossed my line of sight I didn't even recognize what was in it. Upon closer examination I discovered a mangled feathery bunch that proved to be a Moluccan Cockatoo and Umbrella Cockatoo huddled together. I politely asked her purpose for having them out there like that in the condition they are in . . I was informed that they are breeders, and she had eggs with her for sale and babies available to people interested. I'll reserve judgment because maybe I was meant to meet her, but the person with her seemed like a substance abuser. To paint a picture *cues soundbyte of woman responding to why she does this* . . "I get money . . oh ya, I get money" My first thought was, how can I get these two majestic creatures out of this woman's possession . . how many more birds does she keep?
I offered her a lump sum of cash in my pocket, a small fraction of what they would be worth in a pet store. My next threads . . and corresponding blog will detail the condition of these birds and their recovery
