No more throwaway birds

[Kentuckienne]

It's just a bird, right?

 

[SailBoat]

Thank-you, for Posting this poem! It says what so many of us know and feel of the these wonderful, loving and truly caring members of the Parrot World.

I continue to struggle with how we can impact this 'throwaway' opinion that Humans have with Birds in general and smaller Birds in specific. The only good news is that 'designer' Birds is falling out of style and that has continued to slow the market for Birds!

Again, thank-you!

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

I must be crazy. cause I cant even finish this poem,
for fear of what will happen to my birdies when Im gone.

 

[jugoya]

this is why I refuse to get birds that live longer than twenty years... and will get my last bird at most likely sixty.

Budgies that live with me their whole lives... are not as big and bright as the bigger birds but at least they will not have this sad sad story as their plight.

As much as I'd love a macaw.. or a Galah I'm just too afraid that this would be their end.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Thank you, Kentuckienne... very moving. I finished it in spite of the lump in my throat, whichactually hurt.

So when I got the Rb, his life expectancy was said to be 30 ( I was 32). I promised him I'd outlive him. Now it seems his span may be more like 40-50. But a promise is a promise.

Thanks again. I'm gonna save that poem for inspiration.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Thank you, Kentuckienne... very moving. I finished it in spite of the lump in my throat, whichactually hurt.

So when I got the Rb, his life expectancy was said to be 30 ( I was 32). I promised him I'd outlive him. Now it seems his span may be more like 40-50. But a promise is a promise.

Thanks again. I'm gonna save that poem for inspiration.

Yeah, you keep your promise, and then some. Us needs you.

For me the hardest line was about not hearing the name for 20 years. It's one thing to contemplate the loneliness and poor treatment ... But every time I hear the number of years ... macaw Betty 17 years in a parakeet cage, Gus eight in his...I can't not see the bird sitting there, on whatever perch it has, waiting for food and water to come or not come, and it's a day and a night, then another day, then another day, then it's been 365 of those horrible days, then it's been 10 of those horrible years, lived one day at a time. How do they bear it?

I have funds for Gus, in case we outlive him, but how to find someone to care for him? All my friends and family are old like me. I used to joke about starting a group home and hiring a nurse to share with my friends .. Now I think about starting a parrot sanctuary or outplacement center, so Gus will have some where to go. I wonder how much of an endowment such a place would need, in order to have food and cages and staff, what would it cost ... I don't want Gus to be one of those birds again.

 

[RavensGryf]

That was heartbreaking! I'm glad you posted it though. The line about him remembering his original name as his real name choked me up .

 

[BeatriceC]

I should not have read that. I'm sitting here literally sobbing.

 

[Aidualc]

Heartbreaking! And it happens all the time :'(! Sitting with tears in my eyes...

 

[SassiBird]

I'm interested to hear peoples ideas on how this reality could be changed.
I'm trying to think if there are any other pets that are now taken more seriously.

 

[Rival_of_the_Rickeybird]

Wow, Ms. K. Do you know when this was written? Or anything of the author?

 

[Flboy]

Too painful of a thread! Why? Real life!

 

[Kentuckienne]

Wow, Ms. K. Do you know when this was written? Or anything of the author?

I googled the name and finally found it is Alison Schofield. The poem was posted by a parrot site, I forget the name, they had lots of parrot stuff...

I think what gets me about pet parrots...what makes it somehow different...is that they live behind bars. Dogs and cats might be stuck in houses, but birds are stuck in cages. And birds are made to FLY. Bad enough for a human to be in prison, looking out through bars, not able to get out. At least human prisoners get to walk the yard now and then. And yet some people will keep a bird in a cage its entire life and not think twice about it because that's what we do. It eats at me, the thought of a bird, looking out through the bars, totally dependent on someone else to remember to take care of it,totally dependent on whatever food the human brings.

There was a movie on TV a while back, I forget the name, about parrot and sanctuaries. That was the first time I realized what a problem this was. They followed the lives of several birds. One was a Moluccan cockatoo ... Neighbors called police to report that there were bird noises coming from a house, and that the people who lived in the house had moved out some time ago. They found the 'too, on a stand, with a bucket of water and an open bag of dog food. At least he wasn't in a cage.

 

[fowlstack]

The author I found on DevianArt. Her name is Alison Schofield.. she has other beautiful and current poems:
Poems by AlisonSchofield on DeviantArt