Bird ownership proves tough commitment

The closure of a parrot sanctuary in B.C. has literally brought a problem home to roost for a Winnipeg couple who didn't truly understand what they were in for when they first got a cockatoo.
               

Jan and Gord owned Sydney for 17 years before sending her to the World Parrot Refuge in 2011. They believed their pet, which had developed worrying habits, would be happier where she could fly, forage and be with her own kind.

But sanctuary owner Wendy Huntbatch died earlier this year, and now a massive parrot relocation, the largest Canada has ever seen, is underway. Workers at the Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary in B.C. are caring for the approximately 600 birds and looking for new homes for them.

600 birds without a home

Jan and Gord flew to the West Coast to reclaim their bird and they and their old pet are now struggling to adjust to Sydney's return.

Sydney, who could live more than 30 years, has attacked Jan, biting her twice, and the family dogs cower in the basement for hours after the cockatoo lets go with one of its ear-splitting screams.

Experts divided on parrots as pets

She's dealt with people who hoard birds, birds left in abandoned apartments, birds with post-traumatic stress from abuse and birds depressed by the death of their owner.

There is no reliable information on parrot ownership in Canada, but the American Pet Products Association conducted a survey in 2015 that suggested there are 14 million birds living in homes across the U.S.

There is also a lot of debate about whether parrots should be kept as pets. Organizations such as the Avian Welfare Coalition in the U.S. argue parrots belong in the wild, where they can interact with their flock and fly each day. Keeping them caged in a home causes anxiety and distress.

Something About Parrots

The parrots are a broad order of more than 350 birds. Macaws, Amazons, lorikeets, lovebirds, cockatoos and many others are all considered parrots.

Though there is great diversity among these birds, there are similarities as well. All parrots have curved beaks and all are zygodactyls, meaning they have four toes on each foot, two pointing forward and two projecting backward. Most parrots eat fruit, flowers, buds, nuts, seeds, and some small creatures such as insects.
Parrots are found in warm climates all over most of the world. The greatest diversities exist in Australasia, Central America, and South America.
Many parrots are kept as pets, especially macaws, Amazon parrots, cockatiels, parakeets, and cockatoos. These birds have been popular companions throughout history because they are intelligent, charismatic, colorful, and musical. Some birds can imitate many nonavian sounds, including human speech. The male African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus) is the most accomplished user of human speech in the animal world; this rain forest-dweller is an uncanny mimic.
Currently the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) bans the sale of any wild-caught species, yet the parrots' popularity continues to drive illegal trade.
Some parrot species are highly endangered. In other cases, once tame birds have reproduced in the wild and established thriving feral populations in foreign ecosystems. The monk (green) parakeet, for example, now lives in several U.S. states.