Responsible screening met with irresponsible attitudes

I recently received some correspondence from a good friend of mine who is (in my opinion) one of the most responsible and dedicated breeders of Macaws in Australia. The communication stream presented below starts off OK but quickly disintegrates. Personally I have zero tolerance for people who not only want to buy Macaws as status symbols and stick them in an indoor cage all day with the radio on, clip their wings, only let them out for a couple of hours in the evening and think that’s going to be kosher for the largest and undeniably one of the most environmentally challenging groups of parrot that we keep as a pet. Here’s the transcript…

Buyer Enquiry:

Hi, I am interested in a baby hand-reared Blue & Gold macaw. I have kept a lorikeet for several years and loved the experience. I would sincerely love to be a macaw parent. Can you reply with some pics of the baby’s parents?  I am after a good talker and was told that a male is better generally for this. Does it make a lot of difference with Macaws?

Breeder Reply:

Hi, can you tell me what you are looking for? Pet or breeding? Will you clip wings and keep indoors and what will happen when you are at work all day? These babies are not sexed yet as they are too young so am not sure if I will have a boy. There are only 2 not yet spoken for. Parents are currently in the nest with their baby, which they will bring up through to 8-9 months old so taking a photo of them is not possible. They are large birds and consistently produce beautiful young. Let me know your intentions re housing etc asap if you want to secure one.

Buyer’s Response:

Hi, I plan on clipping wings and keeping indoors all day.  For my last bird I always left a radio on, kept the room well lightened and placed a small fan on one end of the cage if he got hot during the day.  I kept loads of toys and a bath in the bottom of the cage for him, he never got bored or plucked feathers etc. I am looking around now for very large cages, and intend on letting him out of the cage every night when I get home until its bedtime. How much would you need for a deposit on one, and how long before you could shoot through a pic of the parents?

Breeder’s Response:

Hi, Unfortunately I will never sell to anyone who wants to clip wings and keep indoors all day. It is a very poor life for any bird and extremely cruel to one as intelligent as a macaw. They need to fly in the sun and the rain for quality of life. It is like locking a child in a playpen all-day and releasing for an hour in the evening when they want to sleep anyway. It is the reason why I only sell companion birds to WA so I can check they have an aviary and can fly. No bird should be alone and locked in and waiting for you to come home for time out of a little prison, it destroys the whole personality of such a intelligent bird. My apologies once again, I have a responsibility to these birds.

Buyer’s Response:

(Name withheld), You are an incredibly sneaky woman, next time be more open and honest before asking such loaded questions. I will happily be positing this email chain online so everyone sees what your like!

Well bud – I’m pretty certain you didn’t have the audacity to follow up on your little threat there so allow me to post this online for ya so everyone can see what a complete jerk you are. 

Let’s summarise what the breeder’s expectations and conditions of sale were for their Macaws – 1) An outdoor flight aviary and 2) to be left fully flighted and not wing-clipped. Nothing more – nothing less. A breeder of Macaws, Cockatoos – or any darn parrot for that matter has every right to find out what the future holds for the birds they breed and every right of refusal to deny a sale if they are unsatisfied with the response. The dilemma for responsible breeders who actually give a damn about the birds they sell as pets is that if they start the sale interface with `This bird mustn’t be wingclipped and must have access to a flight aviary during the day’ it doesn’t take a genius to work out what any potential buyer is going to promise – even if they have absolutely no intention of following through. This breeder frequently encounters such retribution and threats and that sort of irresponsible, selfish attitude really makes my blood boil. Sorry folks – but the socially accepted attitude towards keeping large parrots in solitary confinement in the corner of the living room for 10-12 hours a day with a radio on is pathetic. What worked for the pet Budgie for the past 100 years in Australia doesn’t make it right for a Macaw – heck, it didn’t make it right for the Budgie either! Keeping parrots responsibly and ethically requires a better understanding of their needs than a `one size fits all’ approach. The sad thing is – I’ll bet my house that this guy just called up a different breeder, bought a Macaw without any screening and that thing is sitting in a cage, in the living room corner, staring at that undersized excuse for a birdbath, poking at the same old food it was offered every day since it arrived and waiting for that front door to open. You know what – I bet I get a call from this guy down the track. That conversation will start something like this… `Hey Jim - I’ve got a problem with me Macaw. Every time I come home it screams out real loud and won’t shut up till I let it out of its cage. We bought it because we wanted a talker but it just yells. Can you fix it?’ Sigh…

Responsible breeders take an interest in the future of the birds they sell as pets. Buyers who want ornaments for their living room should investigate taxidermy - it's quieter and much less mess!