Submitted by Armen Hareyan on May 7th, 2008
The common practice of clipping a pet parrots wings so that it can't fly in its owners house may be causing more serious emotional trauma to pet birds then many people realize, and be a violation of their animal rights.
Thousands of pet parrots are developing psychological problems as a direct result from having their God given right to fly stripped away from them from unknowing pet owners.
This lack of physical ability to fly and exercise is causing thousands of pet parrots to pluck out their feathers, develop irrational phobias and have an inability to tolerate stress and or change in their environments.
This is why 1 in 4 parrots purchased this year will be abandoned or given away before it's 10 years old (with an average life span of 35, depending on the species), causing bird rescue facilities to be flooded with more birds than they can handle.
In an effort to teach parrot owners how much happier parrots can be in captivity, Birdtricks.com has documented a case study of how they trained their Congo African Grey to safely fly outside, including videos and pictures of the entire process.
"Most parrot owners don't even know their birds are capable of being trained to fly back to their owners when called," says Dave Womach, co-owner of Birdtricks.com.
"We're not experts at teaching people how to do this type of outdoor flight training yet, but unless we start letting people know this type of training is possible, I don't think pet parrots will ever be truly happy in captivity."
Source:
Birdtricks.com 