Might be longer than expected getting a conure

[AkridChaos]

Alright guys. I had a previous forum post about me preparing to get a conure. That is still open for discussion and I will still keep up with it, but something unexpected came up today where I am now ending up with a surprise rescue budgie. My niece came over today and dumped a load on me. She showed me her bird and was basically in tears because of what's been going on. She owns the bird, but her mom doesn't like birds so the bird doesn't stay at her house. Instead it stays with her cousins. The room of the one cousin it stays with, they get along. It's the 7 year old cousin that's being the terrorist. He will go into the room and grab the bird and crush it with his hands until it's sqwawking in pain. He rough houses it, he throws it around the room. It's a horror story hearing everything this kid does to the bird! Makes me want to cry along with her. The worst of it is they tell the kid to leave it alone and he just doesn't listen. The dad doesn't know what's going on. He just hears the kid walking up to him and whining that they won't let him play with the bird and won't stop until daddy gets annoyed and forces them to let him "play" with it. This poor bird is under so much stress that's it's started plucking out its chest feathers. He's so young and going through so much horror! So my niece begged me in tears to take the bird because this boy is going to kill it on her. Trust me, she doesn't have to beg. I'll gladly take it off her hands after hearing the things she was telling me. Poor bird! So right now I'm unplugging all airwick air fresheners etc in preparation for getting him tomorrow. Poor guy is going to be a work in progress after that. I'll probably be joining the parakeet forums for a while. I still want a conure in the future, but for now, Snowball needs all the undivided care and attention he can get! I'll post a picture of the little darling. He's so cute too! Such a shame what's happened to him. You can see in the picture he's been plucking out his beautiful chest feathers. I'm going to schedule a vet visit for him as soon as humanly possible to make sure nothing is cracked or broken.

 

[Flboy]

You been picked!

 

[Jen5200]

Poor sweetie - he's so lucky to have you! Can't wait to see pictures once he's settled in.

 

[wrench13]

Theres a special place down below for those who mistreat animals. Thanks for putting your immediate want aside to adopt this little one. Did you know the bird that has the largest known vocabulary in talking is a parakeet? You would think a African Grey, but nope, a parakeet.

 

[GlitchTown]

That's... horrifying. My stomach is buzzing after hearing that... you're an amazing soul for helping that little guy out. He's so beautiful. You can tell he's really hurting for him to destroy his own beauty like that. But it's not too late! Best of luck to the both of you and a bright future ahead!

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[AkridChaos]

Thanks all! I'm a little nervous about it since I've honestly never had a rescue pet before. I probably shouldn't be too nervous as I know from experience the younger ones tend to be a bit more willing to bond with a human, so hopefully it'll be a somewhat smooth transition. I understand it would be more difficult if Snowball were already in his adult stages. But it's still probably going to be a bit difficult. I'm using my best educated guess that I'm going to have to take things with him more slowly than I would a new, non-tortured bird. I'll probably post pictures and videos of him (once he's more comfortable of course! Don't want to scare him with a big scary mean phone right off the bat) in the parakeet forums later. For right now, number one step is taking it slow and making him comfortable.

 

[Scott]

That seven year old is a cruel animal abuser, and if unchecked may mature into a cold blooded killer. Of animals and humans. Seems the father is an enabler if he clearly understands what his brat is doing. Is the father approachable with a summary of what you posted?

 

[AkridChaos]

@Scott:
I'm not sure if the 7 year old is just a spoiled brat or what, truthfully. I don't really talk to that side of the family. From what I can gather from my niece, she has tried telling the father what 7yr old brat is doing and he just doesn't seem to care. Now hear me out for a moment before getting angry, as this is the best guess I have as to what's going on, because in a way I can relate to my niece's situation (I experienced a bad incident once at around the age of 7, nothing like my niece, but it was still bad in my opinion).

To the standard bird lover, we obviously will view the treatment of this bird as horrifying, and the father a cruel heartless enabler since he doesn't care for the bird's plight. However, most of society aren't bird lovers. Most of society will actually view a bird as a lesser pet, thinking the bird is brainless and not even realizing it has a personality and consciousness of its own. They don't view a bird in the same way as they would a dog or a cat. For instance, one of my brothers will respect the other brother's cats and dogs. However when it came to my birds, he always viewed them as just stupid brainless creatures, and never respected their boundaries like he did to cats/dogs, and would purposely scare them because they're stupid and they're stupid for getting scared and that's why he's proving how stupid they are. ( -_- you have no idea how many fights we got into growing up because of it) So with that in mind, if I were to tell that brother about the treatment of this bird, he wouldn't even care or bat an eye. Whereas now if a cat or dog were to be treated the same exact way, he would get angry. And so thus, I am almost certain that's what's going on with daddy and 7 year old. Daddy doesn't see a bird in the same way he would view a cat or dog, so the bird's plight is meaningless to him. Now take the same situation but make it a cat or dog instead of a bird, and now suddenly he would more than likely discipline his child. It's sad and I don't agree with it in the slightest, but if he can't comprehend that the bird is an intelligent creature with its own personality, can you FULLY blame him? You could argue yes, because torturing any animal in such a way is indeed wrong, but if a person sees it as a brainless waste anyway, they aren't going to think anything of it.

Now I understand there's also a lot of hate towards 7 year old at the moment too. Don't get the wrong idea here, I'm absolutely LIVID about his treatment towards Snowball. However, he is still a child, one who knows no concept of the meaning of life and death. However, he does grasp the concept of pain. He understands fully what pain is, and that he doesn't want it inflicted upon him. So to knowingly go inflicting pain upon another, be it human or animal, he should know by this point is wrong. From what I understand, he doesn't do this to other people, or to their dog. Only the bird. Why? Because daddy won't discipline him for it. Why? Because daddy doesn't view the bird as anything more than a brainless waste of space, so in turn to 7 year old, it's ok that he treats the bird this way, because daddy didn't say it's not ok. Again I'm not trying to make excuses for either person's behavior to the situation, because like I said, I don't agree with what's going on, but I can at least understand why the situation is as bad as it is (sadly). To further clarify this point:

I said earlier I had a bad experience with my birds when I was 7. I owned two parakeets and loved them to death. I had "friends" over one day, and one of the friends brought a relative over (also 7-ish). Showed them the birds, whatever, went about playing in the house after. Come later, that friend's relative is missing. I find him in the room with my birds. He shows me something in his hands and smiles. The horror hit me tenfold. He had pulled out all of both parakeet's tail feathers. I totally freaked, slapped this kid in the face, shoved him to the ground, and started screaming at him for what he had done to my babies. However, I was painted as the villain by all my "friends" for doing this. They didn't, COULDN'T understand how I could possibly be so angry about my birds' tail feathers being ripped out, even though they were my beloved pets. Change the situation to involve a cat or a dog however, if that kid chopped off their tails, he'd be the villain and he would've been properly disciplined. This doesn't excuse his behavior, but it sheds light on how and why it would even happen. And so I understand how my niece feels right now, and I have to give her credit for caring enough about this bird to understand she has to get it away from that situation asap, because things aren't going to change there, and it WILL die in their "care". I'm glad she came to me with this and can properly vent to me about it should she have the need to, because I understand what she's experiencing right now (although not to the same extremes).

 

[GlitchTown]

@Scott:
I'm not sure if the 7 year old is just a spoiled brat or what, truthfully. I don't really talk to that side of the family. From what I can gather from my niece, she has tried telling the father what 7yr old brat is doing and he just doesn't seem to care. Now hear me out for a moment before getting angry, as this is the best guess I have as to what's going on, because in a way I can relate to my niece's situation (I experienced a bad incident once at around the age of 7, nothing like my niece, but it was still bad in my opinion).

To the standard bird lover, we obviously will view the treatment of this bird as horrifying, and the father a cruel heartless enabler since he doesn't care for the bird's plight. However, most of society aren't bird lovers. Most of society will actually view a bird as a lesser pet, thinking the bird is brainless and not even realizing it has a personality and consciousness of its own. They don't view a bird in the same way as they would a dog or a cat. For instance, one of my brothers will respect the other brother's cats and dogs. However when it came to my birds, he always viewed them as just stupid brainless creatures, and never respected their boundaries like he did to cats/dogs, and would purposely scare them because they're stupid and they're stupid for getting scared and that's why he's proving how stupid they are. ( -_- you have no idea how many fights we got into growing up because of it) So with that in mind, if I were to tell that brother about the treatment of this bird, he wouldn't even care or bat an eye. Whereas now if a cat or dog were to be treated the same exact way, he would get angry. And so thus, I am almost certain that's what's going on with daddy and 7 year old. Daddy doesn't see a bird in the same way he would view a cat or dog, so the bird's plight is meaningless to him. Now take the same situation but make it a cat or dog instead of a bird, and now suddenly he would more than likely discipline his child. It's sad and I don't agree with it in the slightest, but if he can't comprehend that the bird is an intelligent creature with its own personality, can you FULLY blame him? You could argue yes, because torturing any animal in such a way is indeed wrong, but if a person sees it as a brainless waste anyway, they aren't going to think anything of it.

Now I understand there's also a lot of hate towards 7 year old at the moment too. Don't get the wrong idea here, I'm absolutely LIVID about his treatment towards Snowball. However, he is still a child, one who knows no concept of the meaning of life and death. However, he does grasp the concept of pain. He understands fully what pain is, and that he doesn't want it inflicted upon him. So to knowingly go inflicting pain upon another, be it human or animal, he should know by this point is wrong. From what I understand, he doesn't do this to other people, or to their dog. Only the bird. Why? Because daddy won't discipline him for it. Why? Because daddy doesn't view the bird as anything more than a brainless waste of space, so in turn to 7 year old, it's ok that he treats the bird this way, because daddy didn't say it's not ok. Again I'm not trying to make excuses for either person's behavior to the situation, because like I said, I don't agree with what's going on, but I can at least understand why the situation is as bad as it is (sadly). To further clarify this point:

I said earlier I had a bad experience with my birds when I was 7. I owned two parakeets and loved them to death. I had "friends" over one day, and one of the friends brought a relative over (also 7-ish). Showed them the birds, whatever, went about playing in the house after. Come later, that friend's relative is missing. I find him in the room with my birds. He shows me something in his hands and smiles. The horror hit me tenfold. He had pulled out all of both parakeet's tail feathers. I totally freaked, slapped this kid in the face, shoved him to the ground, and started screaming at him for what he had done to my babies. However, I was painted as the villain by all my "friends" for doing this. They didn't, COULDN'T understand how I could possibly be so angry about my birds' tail feathers being ripped out, even though they were my beloved pets. Change the situation to involve a cat or a dog however, if that kid chopped off their tails, he'd be the villain and he would've been properly disciplined. This doesn't excuse his behavior, but it sheds light on how and why it would even happen. And so I understand how my niece feels right now, and I have to give her credit for caring enough about this bird to understand she has to get it away from that situation asap, because things aren't going to change there, and it WILL die in their "care". I'm glad she came to me with this and can properly vent to me about it should she have the need to, because I understand what she's experiencing right now (although not to the same extremes).

All of what you said, though unfortunate, is true. Birds, especially parakeets, are thought to be mindless creatures that just exist to make a pretty song and make pretty feathers by some people. I'm very fortunate to have a family that was able to open up and learn that these creatures are smart, independent souls. But some people aren't so lucky. My heart goes out to your niece, snowball, and you.

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[Scott]

It's the 7 year old cousin that's being the terrorist. He will go into the room and grab the bird and crush it with his hands until it's sqwawking in pain. He rough houses it, he throws it around the room. It's a horror story hearing everything this kid does to the bird! Makes me want to cry along with her. The worst of it is they tell the kid to leave it alone and he just doesn't listen. The dad doesn't know what's going on. He just hears the kid walking up to him and whining that they won't let him play with the bird and won't stop until daddy gets annoyed and forces them to let him "play" with it.

@Scott:
I'm not sure if the 7 year old is just a spoiled brat or what, truthfully. I don't really talk to that side of the family. From what I can gather from my niece, she has tried telling the father what 7yr old brat is doing and he just doesn't seem to care. Now hear me out for a moment before getting angry, as this is the best guess I have as to what's going on, because in a way I can relate to my niece's situation (I experienced a bad incident once at around the age of 7, nothing like my niece, but it was still bad in my opinion).

To the standard bird lover, we obviously will view the treatment of this bird as horrifying, and the father a cruel heartless enabler since he doesn't care for the bird's plight. However, most of society aren't bird lovers. Most of society will actually view a bird as a lesser pet, thinking the bird is brainless and not even realizing it has a personality and consciousness of its own. They don't view a bird in the same way as they would a dog or a cat. For instance, one of my brothers will respect the other brother's cats and dogs. However when it came to my birds, he always viewed them as just stupid brainless creatures, and never respected their boundaries like he did to cats/dogs, and would purposely scare them because they're stupid and they're stupid for getting scared and that's why he's proving how stupid they are. ( -_- you have no idea how many fights we got into growing up because of it) So with that in mind, if I were to tell that brother about the treatment of this bird, he wouldn't even care or bat an eye. Whereas now if a cat or dog were to be treated the same exact way, he would get angry. And so thus, I am almost certain that's what's going on with daddy and 7 year old. Daddy doesn't see a bird in the same way he would view a cat or dog, so the bird's plight is meaningless to him. Now take the same situation but make it a cat or dog instead of a bird, and now suddenly he would more than likely discipline his child. It's sad and I don't agree with it in the slightest, but if he can't comprehend that the bird is an intelligent creature with its own personality, can you FULLY blame him? You could argue yes, because torturing any animal in such a way is indeed wrong, but if a person sees it as a brainless waste anyway, they aren't going to think anything of it.

Now I understand there's also a lot of hate towards 7 year old at the moment too. Don't get the wrong idea here, I'm absolutely LIVID about his treatment towards Snowball. However, he is still a child, one who knows no concept of the meaning of life and death. However, he does grasp the concept of pain. He understands fully what pain is, and that he doesn't want it inflicted upon him. So to knowingly go inflicting pain upon another, be it human or animal, he should know by this point is wrong. From what I understand, he doesn't do this to other people, or to their dog. Only the bird. Why? Because daddy won't discipline him for it. Why? Because daddy doesn't view the bird as anything more than a brainless waste of space, so in turn to 7 year old, it's ok that he treats the bird this way, because daddy didn't say it's not ok. Again I'm not trying to make excuses for either person's behavior to the situation, because like I said, I don't agree with what's going on, but I can at least understand why the situation is as bad as it is (sadly). To further clarify this point:

I said earlier I had a bad experience with my birds when I was 7. I owned two parakeets and loved them to death. I had "friends" over one day, and one of the friends brought a relative over (also 7-ish). Showed them the birds, whatever, went about playing in the house after. Come later, that friend's relative is missing. I find him in the room with my birds. He shows me something in his hands and smiles. The horror hit me tenfold. He had pulled out all of both parakeet's tail feathers. I totally freaked, slapped this kid in the face, shoved him to the ground, and started screaming at him for what he had done to my babies. However, I was painted as the villain by all my "friends" for doing this. They didn't, COULDN'T understand how I could possibly be so angry about my birds' tail feathers being ripped out, even though they were my beloved pets. Change the situation to involve a cat or a dog however, if that kid chopped off their tails, he'd be the villain and he would've been properly disciplined. This doesn't excuse his behavior, but it sheds light on how and why it would even happen. And so I understand how my niece feels right now, and I have to give her credit for caring enough about this bird to understand she has to get it away from that situation asap, because things aren't going to change there, and it WILL die in their "care". I'm glad she came to me with this and can properly vent to me about it should she have the need to, because I understand what she's experiencing right now (although not to the same extremes).

I well understand the fair point, but what if the object of abuse was a frog, turtle, or tiny garter snake. The moral slippery slope is difficult when we begin to distinguish between a bird, (sentient being) frog, (not very) or insect. (likely pure instinct) Everybody has their opinion of a protected life form, and the kid's father obviously sees a budgie as mindless automaton. Sad, because he probably would have more compassion for a large parrot such as amazon, grey, or macaw.

Glad you rescued this budgie and am sure you will bond quickly.

 

[AkridChaos]

I understand the point you're making, Scott. I view torture of any being (human or other animals) as morally wrong. The point I was making doesn't apply to birds only, honestly. It applies to any animal a human would view in such a way, my example applying to the bird.

I wanted to post a picture here but I don't know how to without making a new post. So to those who are curious, I will be making a post in the parakeet forums and copying the link here.

I must say, I'm upset. I had to rush and get a new cage for him because they were being butts and wouldn't let my niece take it. I didn't even have time to put it together because they gave us a small window to get him out. Then they wouldn't let us take the food and I had to go quick to get some. Why? Because guess what?! They now want another bird!! I feel bad but there's nothing I can do about it. I guess we did our part for the one we had control over. It's just sad that the consequences of my actions to save one bird causes another one to suffer in the same way and more than likely die as a result. Very conflicted feelings about it, but I can only look to the bright side about it and understand we did our part and saved the one we could.

 

[AkridChaos]

Parakeet forum post here: Now owner of a rescue bidgie. - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

 

[LordTriggs]

now, I'm not an advocate of violence and in no way do I condone harm to others especially children.

what I will say is maybe spending an hour underneath a heavy object such as a boot, car, pile of bricks, may change their opinion on how to treat an animal.

I think a priority though is to stop that family from getting a bird. I'd let them know if you even have the slightest feeling they abuse any new pets then you'll be reporting them. Maybe slip the dad a little bit of reading on the kind of sentences you can get for animal abuse. Seeing the kind of fine you can get might be enough of worry to his wallet that he thinks twice about letting his little ******* **** of a child crush an animal

 

[Nerine]

I sure hope that child's parents take him in for some professional help...that is not normal behavior for a 7 year old

Thank you for intervening in this sad situation.

 

[AkridChaos]

Well there is now more good news. They said to my niece they're not getting another bird now (thank God!!!). I think they were just purposely being butts about food/cage to make us angrier than we already were. But whatever. Everything has worked out for the best in this situation in my opinion now. ^^

 

[LordTriggs]

how pathetic can a family be? pure spite that is oh boy they really are scum

 

[AkridChaos]

To those in the conure forums who are curious: I had the vet visit today at 11. Got some good news. He's physically healthy, minus some stress bars in his tail feathers. Also, he's not plucking his chest feathers due to stress. He's got some odd sticky substance stuck on him and he's ripping out the feathers in those areas. We couldn't tell what it was, other than maybe they spilled some juice on him or something (great job guys -_-). Only thing I can do is when bonding, try coaxing him into taking a birdie bath and see if it helps, or just wait for them to fall out and new ones to grow. And then monitor once it's all gone to make sure he's no longer plucking. ^^ so that's good. All healthy minus sticky juice stuff and stress bars in his tail feathers from where he stayed previously.

 

[GlitchTown]

To those in the conure forums who are curious: I had the vet visit today at 11. Got some good news. He's physically healthy, minus some stress bars in his tail feathers. Also, he's not plucking his chest feathers due to stress. He's got some odd sticky substance stuck on him and he's ripping out the feathers in those areas. We couldn't tell what it was, other than maybe they spilled some juice on him or something (great job guys -_-). Only thing I can do is when bonding, try coaxing him into taking a birdie bath and see if it helps, or just wait for them to fall out and new ones to grow. And then monitor once it's all gone to make sure he's no longer plucking. ^^ so that's good. All healthy minus sticky juice stuff and stress bars in his tail feathers from where he stayed previously.

Great news! Looks like things are turning around for him. I wish a good friendship ahead for you two!

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