LaurenB
New member
- Oct 28, 2014
- 191
- 0
- Parrots
- Green Cheek Conure - Tiki //
Sun Conure - Nacho //
Indian Ringnecks - Kermit and Beaker
Hi all! This is going to be a long one, but I'm really hoping for some opinions.
This sickens me and I know it will sicken you, too.
Much to my excitement, I discovered a bird store not far from my house. (I live in rural PA). I adventured over there on Thursday, and what I saw disgusted me. I actually started to tear up while in the store.
When you first walk in, there is a bin full of cockatiels. It is roughly a 100 gallon, shallow glass-panelled tank. There was some sort of bedding on the bottom that clearly had not been changed in some time. It was full of poop and feathers and seed shells. There were no perches and no toys. All of the cockatiels had their wings clipped, a couple had managed to scramble to the railing where they were perched. Most were just fluffed up and standing in place. There were probably 40 cockatiels in this small tank (and I am not exaggerating). They were in horrible condition, all of them missing at least some feathers, some going completely bald. Their water dishes were green and slimy and filled with poop.
I inquired about the cockatiels with the sole employee, who I think was also the owner, who informed me those cockatiels aren't for sale, they are their personal cockatiels and all are between the ages of 27 to 30 years old. I applaud that they've lived that long, especially in such conditions. He then informed me they had younger cockatiels for sale in the back.
I hesitantly walked into their back room where all of the birds are housed and was even more appalled. A lot of the birds weren't even for sale, they were the owner's personal pets.
I could go on for days about the conditions, but I'll try to keep it quick.
All of the cockatoos, amazons, greys, and macaws were not for sale. There were also a few conures, parkeets, and lovebirds, also I think were not for sale. The love bird was alone, and he had a snuggle hut. At both entrances of his snuggle hut, there was a mountainous pile of poop half the size of the bird himself. On the one end, it had actually grown so large as to spill out onto the nearest perch, anchoring it there. All of the water dishes I could see were filthy. There were two cockatoos, three greys, two macaws, two eclectus, and maybe 4 amazon. They were all kept in a relatively ok-sized cage, assuming they get a lot of time out of the cage, but I'm going to go ahead and assume they don't. The poor scarlet macaw was missing half his feathers, one foot drawn up to his chest, with his eyes shut... all while all of the other birds were making a ruckus. I know he was sick... or else just wishing he would open his eyes and it would all go away.
There were three decent sized cages, roughly the cage my single conure is in (32x21x60), each with about 30 more cockatiels in it. These were the ones for sale. The owner explained to me that the one cage was full of the "babies"... they buy their birds from people who have bought birds from them, and then bred them. The other two cages were full of older birds, and/or ex-breeders (at a cheaper price!
)
I am sickened, appalled, disgusted and any other word you can think of. I wanted to stuff as many birds into my coat as I could and dash out of there when he wasn't looking.
I checked online for ratings of this place and am just blown away! They have been given 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 35 ratings! People were commenting about what an awesome place it is, how well the birds are taken care of, blah blah blah! I am so confused! I can't possibly have been in the same place as these people or else they are caring for their birds at home in the same way as this disgusting store!
Here is where I need the advice. I so badly want to help at least a couple of these cockatiels (as they are the only ones for sale). I want to rescue them from their pig pens where they are beyond over crowded, give them fresh food and water and a chance for their feathers to grow back and show them what love is. But at the same time, I don't want to support this awful, nasty, evil place!!! I swear to you all, the thought that kept creeping back into my mind while I was there was 'bird hoarder'!!!!
What do I do? Do I try to forget about all those innocent birds and not support them by giving them my money? Or do I bite the bullet, grin and bear it, and hand over a few hundred dollars to rescue some cockatiels? My instinct is to not support this place, but I'm under the impression they have been around for a long time and I doubt whether the loss of my business will make or break them.
I am so distraught over this.
This sickens me and I know it will sicken you, too.
Much to my excitement, I discovered a bird store not far from my house. (I live in rural PA). I adventured over there on Thursday, and what I saw disgusted me. I actually started to tear up while in the store.
When you first walk in, there is a bin full of cockatiels. It is roughly a 100 gallon, shallow glass-panelled tank. There was some sort of bedding on the bottom that clearly had not been changed in some time. It was full of poop and feathers and seed shells. There were no perches and no toys. All of the cockatiels had their wings clipped, a couple had managed to scramble to the railing where they were perched. Most were just fluffed up and standing in place. There were probably 40 cockatiels in this small tank (and I am not exaggerating). They were in horrible condition, all of them missing at least some feathers, some going completely bald. Their water dishes were green and slimy and filled with poop.
I inquired about the cockatiels with the sole employee, who I think was also the owner, who informed me those cockatiels aren't for sale, they are their personal cockatiels and all are between the ages of 27 to 30 years old. I applaud that they've lived that long, especially in such conditions. He then informed me they had younger cockatiels for sale in the back.
I hesitantly walked into their back room where all of the birds are housed and was even more appalled. A lot of the birds weren't even for sale, they were the owner's personal pets.
I could go on for days about the conditions, but I'll try to keep it quick.
All of the cockatoos, amazons, greys, and macaws were not for sale. There were also a few conures, parkeets, and lovebirds, also I think were not for sale. The love bird was alone, and he had a snuggle hut. At both entrances of his snuggle hut, there was a mountainous pile of poop half the size of the bird himself. On the one end, it had actually grown so large as to spill out onto the nearest perch, anchoring it there. All of the water dishes I could see were filthy. There were two cockatoos, three greys, two macaws, two eclectus, and maybe 4 amazon. They were all kept in a relatively ok-sized cage, assuming they get a lot of time out of the cage, but I'm going to go ahead and assume they don't. The poor scarlet macaw was missing half his feathers, one foot drawn up to his chest, with his eyes shut... all while all of the other birds were making a ruckus. I know he was sick... or else just wishing he would open his eyes and it would all go away.
There were three decent sized cages, roughly the cage my single conure is in (32x21x60), each with about 30 more cockatiels in it. These were the ones for sale. The owner explained to me that the one cage was full of the "babies"... they buy their birds from people who have bought birds from them, and then bred them. The other two cages were full of older birds, and/or ex-breeders (at a cheaper price!
)I am sickened, appalled, disgusted and any other word you can think of. I wanted to stuff as many birds into my coat as I could and dash out of there when he wasn't looking.
I checked online for ratings of this place and am just blown away! They have been given 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 35 ratings! People were commenting about what an awesome place it is, how well the birds are taken care of, blah blah blah! I am so confused! I can't possibly have been in the same place as these people or else they are caring for their birds at home in the same way as this disgusting store!
Here is where I need the advice. I so badly want to help at least a couple of these cockatiels (as they are the only ones for sale). I want to rescue them from their pig pens where they are beyond over crowded, give them fresh food and water and a chance for their feathers to grow back and show them what love is. But at the same time, I don't want to support this awful, nasty, evil place!!! I swear to you all, the thought that kept creeping back into my mind while I was there was 'bird hoarder'!!!!
What do I do? Do I try to forget about all those innocent birds and not support them by giving them my money? Or do I bite the bullet, grin and bear it, and hand over a few hundred dollars to rescue some cockatiels? My instinct is to not support this place, but I'm under the impression they have been around for a long time and I doubt whether the loss of my business will make or break them.
I am so distraught over this.
