The reason people relinquish their parrots.

[greycloud]

Found this interesting. Barbara Heidenreich has done a study on why birds are relinquished. It is broken down into species. Some are not surprising. Of course this only reinforces the reason why it is important to do your research before acquiring a parrot species.
Here is the link:Kaytee » Current Projects
Click on results.

 

[wildheart]

Thank you for the link. Lots of information there. Really heartbreaking thou.

 

[mellykyitus]

can't believe some of them were for bored of caring for them!!! interesting link, thanks gc

 

[Spiritbird]

Why do people get a bird in the first place if they do not have enough time for them? Many of these sad reasons boil down to lack of education on the care and love of a companion bird. Phoenix Landing requires people to attend their educational classes prior to adoption.

 

[wildheart]

can't believe some of them were for bored of caring for them!!!

I can only imagine that it is children, their interests change and their parents do nothing about it. Where are the days of solving problems instead of just shuving it?

 

[ketchingup]

It's a matter of education up front. People are not aware of the needs of parrots. It would be nice if everyone was required to take a course before they adopted their first parrot.

I can hear the pet stores screaming right now.....at least until you tell them they can charge for the course.

Just my opinion

 

[Von1983]

I have heard very few what you would call ACTUAL reasons for why people want to give up their birds. It is mainly so called reasons that make my blood boil.

It happens across the board with all types of animals and it makes me so terribly sad.

My opinion on people giving up their birds in the UK as a GENERAL rule (not all, goodness me....) is that they see them as having monetry value. There are few bird rescues in Britain and I believe this is because people think they have a right to "get a few quid" for them.

Frequently you will see adverts of this sort of nature: AG for sale, 3yrs old. Work commitments mean I don't have much time for him. Comes with cage, bowls, food and toys. Paid £1,500 for everything, am willing to accept £1,000 for the lot.

It always seems to me they feel they are choosing to sell the bird rather than the expensive television. The ad could be worded FOR a television, let's be honest.

All of us meet people daily with pets of all walks of life that should not have them. I wish there was a way to stop them but with people breeding animals and birds at the rate they do, it will never stop.

It takes an extra..."something" to care adequately for a parrot though - we know this. That "something" isn't easily defined, but most of us on this forum try our hardest to meet the expectation every day. We continue to seek information and will never presume we know everything there is to know.

Sadly a startling amount of people cannot even grasp the basics and it is, as always, the bird that suffers.

Looking at the results just further justifies my thinking. It is all SO predictable.

Softer natures birds like AG's - Not enough time.

Amazons - Biting.

Conures - noise.

Budgies - "Bored"....WHAT?! Oh, I forget, they are dispensable aren't they? They don't matter, it's just a budgie.

For goodness sake, if you spend time with any of the birds above for 20mins you will realise what the breeds general downsides are. These people don't have eyes in their head or a functioning brain if they cannot see this before they bring a bird home.

Thanks for sharing GC but it has got me REALLY cross!

I'm off to show my poor husband and rant about it now lol.

 

[mellykyitus]

i love you fire and passion Von! x

 

[Pionus]

Quaker: Um DUH! A Quaker has to be territorial due to sharing a nest with sometimes MANY other pairs of Quakers and having to defend its area. If people did any research before buying the poor things they'd know this and learn to cope with the behavior or tactics on teaching the bird to not be so territorial!

Lory/Lorikeet: They eat liquids (nectar) as a main diet most of the time (right?) ... what goes in must come out....

Conure: Noise level... again... duh... Conures are more higher pitch than some other parrot species, especially compared to size!

Lovebird: biting aggression... heheheheee... lovebird my a**. Although I wouldn't give my bitey lovey up for the world!

Pionus: seriously? not enough time? these parrots are normally so laid back, and so "chill". How can someone not have enough time? Baby loves just hanging out on my shoulder while I watch t.v. or am doing my homework. Or laughing at my poor housework.... Birds are such critics

BAH! this is just depressing.

 

[Spiritbird]

Thought I would bring this valuable posting back to life for those of you who have not read the information.

 

[Sonic Zippy]

Another great informative post on this forum - thank you.

I found it interesting to see that the correlation between "not enough time" and "feather plucking/destructive behavior" was very similar. Don't people realize that when the birds are ignored, they will have these behaviors?

I really and truly believe it falls down to education..........if you aren't an educated consumer, you shouldn't be purchasing a LIFE. This boils down to any life, not just a parrot....

Ann

 

[sjeal]

totally agree with you that people dont do their research before buying a parrot and i think most of the time they think that a parrot is like some smaller birds where they dont need a whole lot of time and attention. i think in this day and age its all to easy to just walk into a place a buy any animal- being over 18 doesnt always make you responsible and with all animals, (not just parrots) you need to have a bit of basic knowledge at least. owner of a quaker loki-after the god of mischief not had him long so by no means experienced but im in it for the long haul.
thanks for the link

 

[mtdoramike]

I find surveys very subjective at best. The problem is the "HUMAN FACTOR" always gets in the way of an honest survey. I find it very had to believe that most folks who get rid of a pet actually gets rid of it because of lack of time to spend with it so "I'm re-homing the bird, dog, cat or what ever for it's best interest". It's the old refusal to accept the blame for that impulse buy and then getting bored with it, it's too messy, aggressive or what's most of the cases, TOO NOISY.

Unfortunately, even in blind surveys where no names are used to protect the innocent, they will still lie because it's easier to lie than it is to accept the truth about themselves and why they are really re-homing the animal.

So in my opinion, the graph sections indicating aggressiveness or noisy would be much higher than they show.