Are there fewer pet birds around nowadays?

10 comments

1. People cottoned on to how mean it is to keep a bird in a tiny cage. It fell out of fashion as animal welfare fell into fashion.

2. i have some.

3. Putting a flying animal in a cage, it just feels like textbook villainy.

4. An old fella near us had dementia so we offered to look after his pet parrot for a while until we could get someone else to keep it, four years later and we still have the parrot

5. They don’t seem to stock them in the big chain pet shops anymore, probably helps.

6. I have a canary. He’s 12, and I have never felt comfortable keeping him in the cage. He is too old to fly around now, so I sit him by the window to listen to the birds in the garden and he sings back to them. I take him outside (in his cage) to sit in the (shady) sun for a while, which he seems to like. I feed him his seed, his greens and fruit. He gets baths whenever he asks for one (we have an understanding). When he goes, I’ll not get another.

7. “A Robin Redbreast in a Cage
   Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
   A dove house fill’d with doves and pigeons
   Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions.
   A Dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate
   Predicts the ruin of the State.
   A Horse misus’d upon the Road
   Calls to Heaven for Human blood.
   Each outcry of the hunted Hare
   A fiber from the Brain does tear.

   William Blake

8. My grandparents had a pet budgie in the 90’s, stated in its cage most of the time, had the old blanket draped over it’s cage at night, the works.

   I don’t know anyone with a pet bird now. Although my grandparents budgie was very well looked after, It seems cruel really to keep them cooped up inside in a cage all the time so I guess they fell out of favour for the average household. Now people only tend to get birds if they have an outdoor aviary I guess.

9. As a small child my gran had a budgie called Penny. It died and I haven’t seen anyone with a pet bird since

10. To people saying it’s cruel to keep a pet bird in a cage it’s important to remember they have been bred in captivity for years and some birds such as canaries are DOMESTICATED just like our dogs and cats a handful of other pet birds are also domesticated but even the ones who aren’t such as other popular pet birds such as parrots are still bred in captivity and as long as they have a good sized cage with a variety of toys and perches and are fed the correct diet for the type of bird and have out of cage time to fly around (all pet birds should have out of cage time to fly) as long as these requirements are met there isn’t much cruel with having pet birds I agree some people do just keep them locked in tiny cages and don’t look after them very well I completely agree with that and those people shouldn’t have them.