The pet industry should be very concerned with this strategy…I don’t know that it’s wrong…the first line is good PR piece because it shows Girls Scouts getting involved in community-the parrot community. This group of young girls learned many interesting facts about Parrots.  That’s cool-many scholastic lessons can be taught to our younger generations with the help of parrots. What alarmed me was the last item listed as part of their learning experience with Garuda Aviary… “That parrots do not make good pets”. They didn’t learn-“Parrots may not be good pets for many people”. It was pretty finite. 
 

My concern that the Flock Talk group is imprinting a very negative and final attitude on impressionable young people stems from not just a manufacture perspective, but from a parrot enthusiast that is a very involved member of the avian community-to include properly run rescues and rehabilitators.

I’ll be the first to agree that parrots do not make good pets for a great number of people that either have them or have had them-hence the need for parrot adoption facilities-and perhaps sanctuary set ups for birds that are unable to be return to companion lifestyle.  BUT, not all of companion parrots are in bad situations. And, not all pet bird owners are ill equipped to share their life with a parrot as a companion. Our young people need to be educated on the pros and cons of sharing a life with a companion parrot and that as a pet, a parrot is a very complex creature that must be cared for physically and intellectually.

Finite attitudes of this nature create risks for the parrots and the future for all parrots in companion lifestyles. Advancements in avian medicine, avian nutrition, and care begins with the pets- and is very much applied in wild parrot conservation endeavors.  Companies such as Hagen, Zupreem, Lafebers to name just a few that work to on better products for the companion bird.

If there are no companion parrots in our lives, companies such as these do not have reason to exist. And, if they’re not in existence to continuously go forward with better product development, there would be no charitable donations to groups that are taking care of parrots in sanctuary organizations that stem from profit and parrot enthusiasm of these companies.  

Where would parrot sanctuaries get their support?  The general public?  For the average citizen in the US, one that does not have a tie to parrots-there are many charitable causes-both domestic and global that will have precedence over the parrots in a sanctuary. The avian community has been the driving force behind better products, better toys, better nutrition, and most certainly growth of knowledge in avian health & care, and also fundraising for parrot sanctuaries & rescues and  wild parrot conservation projects. 

This type of propaganda on youth has happened in Europe-where many pet shops do not sell parrots-or products that cater to them.  In the United Kingdom, the pet parrot has lost in place in the pet industry in the past decade. At one time many pet stores had parakeets and an occasional Amazon for sale.

Now, it’s a rarity. The reason-the media went crazy infiltrating schools, youth groups, everything that comes in contact with young generation-with messages that supported the claims that birds do not make good pets. “They shouldn’t be in cages”.” They are too noisy”. I couldn’t believe it-so I reached out to my aunts and uncles, and cousins in England. And, yes –my cousins’ grandchildren think it’s horrendous that I have a pet parrot-in a cage!

 - Melanie

Catherine found this interesting blog post from the Parrot Nation blog with a tongue-in-cheek description of how you can prepare yourself for bird ownership. The first paragraph sets the tone. 

"Take a big bite of carrot. Chew it up well, but don’t swallow it. Now go out to your dining room and spew it all over the wall. Leave it there until it dries. Get a sponge and a scraper and scrape it off the wall. Repeat at least three times a week".