Wishes for the future!

[BirdSquawk]

Because it is January, a time to think of the future, what do you guys wish for the future of parrots? I hope one day Kakapos and rare birds like Spix's macaws and Lears macaws will be so plentiful they will be availible to responsible owners in the U.S and everywhere. How cool will be to have a little Spix's macaw living with you? I also hope cages will be safer and MUCH larger. Good luck 2013! You're going to need it!

 

[JerseyWendy]

My one and only wish for this year for PARROTS is that those who bring one of these amazing creatures into their home make it a LIFELONG committment, so that MANY LESS parrots will need to be rehomed.

 

[BillsBirds]

Amen, Wendy! Parrots are a lifetime, not a pastime!

 

[BeakersBro]

I would like to see all the rare parrots increase their numbers.

In Africa, parrots are shot by farmers if they eat the farmer's crops. What the farmer doesn't care about is that his farm is occupying land that was formerly the parrot's natural habitat. The farmer is the intruder; not the parrot.

If we can't control the laws in Africa or South America to protect wild parrots, perhaps in the future we can create large parrot preserves in some of the southern/western American states that have a similar climate.

I bet the preserve could even fund itself with bird-watching safaris, and rescuing the rejected babies and hand raising them until they are old enough to be put into the preserve or sold to a good home.

 

[Rana]

Same here, Rare breeds to rise in numbers and a more strickt regulation on the sale of the smaller feathers like budgies and conures so their chances of loving homes are increased rather than be considered so disposable.

 

[MonicaMc]

Indigo Winged Parrot is another...

I wouldn't necessarily care about rare species being so common that they are available in captivity so much as that they are well enough established in the wild that human intervention is not required to protect the species.

Not all species of parrots do well in captivity... especially when it comes to dietary needs, space or simply because of the parrots natural ability to destroy things and dismantle them. Imagine how difficult it would be to keep a bird preoccupied enough not to dismantle it's own cage. Well, some macaws and cockatoos already do that! Imagine if that was a natural thing for the majority of the birds in that species to do? (The kea parrot... known to dismantle/destroy automobiles - in captivity in a few select areas) Or imagine having a parrot who's natural diet is fungus, moss and lichen.



What I'd like to see happen is for people to stop hybridizing species and subspecies of birds... and for it to be animal cruelty to keep birds in such small confined cages, or keep birds as single pets. If they aren't a member of the family (as a single pet), they should have a companion.

I'd also like to see different hand raising techniques to produce better, more well rounded pets than those who are going to have behavioral issues because they don't know how to be a bird.



One of the main reasons why there aren't more species of parrots being bred in captivity is because no breeder wants to breed a parrot that may appear dull and drab and may have no "worth" to the general public looking for pets, even if the goal of this breeding is to increase the numbers of the species.