Do you have Exotic Bird Abuse horror stories?

Question

On a question I posted about a policy requirement I'm working on regarding training people and requiring classes on care and behavior on large exotic birds before purchase, a woman stated that she didn't know that there was a problem with large exotics being abused. I know of SEVERAL cases where well meaning people purchased birds but never had the tools to learn about their species to take care of them.

My question to you is what's the worst abuse story you know about for the larger exotic species and do you think it's a problem?

(I do think it's a problem, hence the reason I'm working on ways to help with the problem.)

Answer 1

We rescued a Cockatoo that had a horrible past life. It started out being bought from a pet store and the fellow that bit it used to smack it with a rolled up newspaper to stop it from making noise and such. He would hit its feet. Well one day the bird bit him hard enough to need stitches. When the guy came home from the hospital he beat the bird senseless. It was then taken back to the pet store and 'dropped off' The birds claws were bent at all sorts of weird angles because of the beatings it had taken (broken foot bones and not being set by a vet) then this woman bought him. Of course at a discount price because who wants an ugly broken cockatoo? -mutter- Anyways she was a little off in the head and she would swing from happy to screaming mad to crying and so on. all day every day. and she again would threaten the bird with a rolled up newspaper if it was bad. Over all the bird was pretty messed up. A friend of mine new this women who was moving to england and was planning on putting the bird to sleep because it was mean. I took the bird in and kept it for a long time. It would eat nothing but nuts and banana's It took me weeks and weeks spoon feeding this animal baby food and cocktoo pellet food to teach it how to each like a bird. It had issues even I could not deal with. It now lives in a sanctuary for abused birds and is doing wonderful.


Is this a problem? Hell yes. These animals should not be sold to any moron who can place a couple grand on the table. Prospective owners should be taught exactly what they are getting into. The care, time and money involved in looking after these animals. And the life expetancy. This is an animal that you need to concider who will look after it after you die becaise very likley it will outlive you.

Answer 2

When I was working as a zookeeper we had a Scarlet Macaw donated to us by a man that said he could no longer care for the bird. The bird was very scared of everyone, plucked all it's feathers out and was just very neurotic in general and it took us a really long time to get the bird to trust us. The ex-owner came to visit the bird so we let him take the bird out and spend some time with it. One of the keepers saw the bird bite him and the guy punched the bird knocking it off his perch. He was told he was not allowed to come and visit the bird any longer. We figured out why the bird was so neurotic..obviously the owner had been beating him.

Answer 3

Here is the story of my rescue cockatiel Ash. If you decide to use it, just let me know, I will gladly give you more details if you want them, including photos of his poor foot. :(

I rescued Ash from an abusive home.

When I brought him home, he had been starved, one could have even called it torture. Food was sitting two feet away from him and the "owner" admitted not having fed him in about a month. His water was out of a chicken feeder and was green with alge and moss.

Ash had pressure sores on both of his feet, two badly broken toes that had healed poorly, and stress bars on all of his feathers from not eating.

The vet saw him and could not do anything about his toes. They all face forward and he pearches on his foot and leg now.

Currently, he is healthy and happy, living with two other cockatiels, Tweety and Unix..

Answer 4

If you go to live Journal and check out the parrot_lovers group you can find some horrible stories.

Here's a recent one cross-posted from parrot_lovers

work at the 'Smart, as some of you might know, and 2 hours before getting off today, Some lady walks in pretty oddly with a soaking wet cage with two drenched budgies in it. Well, it was raining outside, but the wetness was plenty more then what would happen from the car to the store. ANYWAYS, she immediately went to one of the cashiers who steered her over towards my manager and me. She wanted to Return them. No reciept, no Contract. The little beebs have one long dowel perch, one toy, and NO food or water in their cage(though, drenched with rain and shivering, of course). My manager tells her that she couldn't accept a return without the paperwork, so, the lady then says "Well, you can have them if you want, I'm just going to take the perch and the Toy. " and left us them and the cage. Why take their toy and perch?! It makes absolutely no sense. Her comment to me was that they were fighting and the "Female"(Blue male, completely) might be "Pregnant", and that they're Fighting, and she's moving, and she's getting a cat, and (it goes on). She then said she wanted to get another budgie, preferrably a yellow one, to which my manager said "no, sorry, as you're moving, we cannot sell you another." She also said that since she couldn't fit them in her car, she put them in the back of her truck and DROVE them to our store!!! No protection from the rain or wind at all! Anyways, my manager has blacklisted the lady, after making her sign a release for them for whoever ending up adopting them, so her name is on the "Do not sell" list we have.

After she left, I took them into the back room and set them up with some store feed, water, a heatlamp to help them dry off, a spray of millet, and two toss-away Manzanita perches we don't use anymore(got newer ones, they've been sanitized of course). I looked a bit closer, and though the cage was mostly, completely spotless, their feet were ENTIRELY encrusted with poo! Jesus. I don't like the cage, but it IS spacious. I walked out to ask my manager something, and then went back, and they had almost COMPLETELY devoured the whole spray of millet, and were gulping down water like crazy. I think they haven't eaten in quite a while. The cage is one of these cages

Anyways, I brought them home, and have them in my side room(Not the same room as my other Birds). They've got a vet appointment on Friday, so I can have them checked out. They're soooooo thin, but no one else wanted them at the store, and keeping them in the noisy back room with all the running filters would just be straight off mean, after they've been stressed out like that.

I'm not a fan of Budgies, though I've always loved their colors. One's a Blue, One's a "Rare" Blue and green, so I'm calling them Degas(blue male) and Monet(Rare possibly female?) now. Luckily I had a few spare toys from Seifer and Pitri hanging around, and some extra food bowls and whatnought. Will definately be buying them more on Friday after the vet, but, yeah. Occurances like this really make me hate people. How hard is it to give something food, proper shelter, and a little lovin? It seems for many people too much to ask.

I've since wiped their little feet off, I have my suspicions that they were never kept in this cage, as it had it's grate and was completely spotless despite the fact that their feet were encrusted with doo(the blue even has it under his WINGS!). I think they were probably actually kept in something infinately smaller with how they're acting in the cage. I really hope they perk up :( I'll post some pictures later this week, hopefully.


Also, go to YouTube and look for "parrot" you'll find tons of people doing really stupid things. Try searching for "cooking with cockatoos."