BrokenWing Chronicles
Americas Shame/Bird Mills/Pet Shops
There seems to be bad amung the good, a very sad reality.
Trapped within the reality you will find them...Exotic Birds.
NEED TO KNOW: The bird overpopulation problem has reached a critical level. Birds, especially the larger and longer living species bred today, are adding to and not replacing birds bred one, two or even three decades ago. Because of this, traditional city and county shelters have and will continue to euthanize birds in captivity.
http://www.projectperry.com/birdmills.html
If you could be any animal on Earth, what would you be? A bird, because they can fly? Maybe that would have been fun long ago, but here and now, birds are, in terms of numbers, probably the most abused animals on the planet.
http://www.petstorecruelty.org/Birdmills.htmOver the past decade, "exotic pets" like parrots have become the rage even though they are challenging to keep in captivity. Large-scale "parrot mill" breeding operations, which supply popular warehouse pet store chains, are now producing thousands of potentially very long-lived parrot chicks each year to keep up with the demand for babies. It is next to impossible to properly socialize baby parrots under such "assembly line," high-production breeding conditions. To make matters worse, when these birds are sold through warehouse pet stores, buyers rarely receive quality products or solid advice from an inexperienced staff. In addition, the display of gentle, adorable, juvenile birds in these stores leads to many being purchased on impulse — and a parrot purchased on impulse without serious preparation and education rarely finds a lifelong home.
http://www.avianwelfare.org/issues/marketing.htmFrom Bird Mills to Parrot Rescues
Parrots, in order to be happy and tame around humans, need to be socialized with both humans and their own kind. Without early socialization a parrot often matures into a nervous, destructive bird. Such birds are more likely to scream uncontrollably, feather pluck, or bite.
Biting, screaming birds are most likely to be abandoned, as are plucked parrots that no longer look like the beautiful bird their owners bought. As a result, many bird mill parrots move from breeding mill to pet store, from pet store to owner, and then from owner to owner. The lucky ones eventually are surrendered to parrot rescues or bird sanctuaries. Others fall victim to animal abuse along the way.
http://pet-birds.suite101.com/article.cfm/from_bird_mills_to_parrot_rescuesMost bird mill breeding facilities resemble warehouses. Breeder birds, many of them former pets, are kept in small cages with nothing more than food, water, and a nestbox. They are never handled or given any mental stimulation. Confinement in such conditions leads to neurotic behavior in many breeder birds.
Not all breeder birds are compatible with each other. If introductions are not carefully done with acute observation and possible intervention - and they rarely are in bird mills - one or both birds of a prospective breeding pair can be seriously injured or killed.
http://www.petstoreabuse.com/birdbreeding.html
A Bird Mill Exposed - Part II
You may be surprised to know that most exotic birds come from Bird Mills and have the same set up as puppy mills: rows and rows of wire cages, poor nutrition, lack of any stimulation and enrichment, and birds are forced to breed over and over like machines. Just as bad as puppy mills, but since people are accustomed to seeing birds in cages, many people turn a blind eye to the situation. So, yes, that bird you bought at the pet store-probably came from a bird mill.
A Bird Mill Exposed - Part 1
http://www.examiner.com/x-2161-Tampa-Small-Pets-Examiner~y2009m1d21-Bird-Mills-The-untold-story-of-where-exotic-birds-come-fromBrokenWing
