Birds in cages?

[pomdownunder1]

I'm currently nannying for a family that have two birds as 'pets' in a cage in their kitchen. Yeh it has a few sticks in, a swing, a mirror and some other bits, but I just can't help looking at them thinking 'you poor things'. Surely birds aren't meant to be caged up? What makes it worse is they can see all the other birds outside flying about. I asked if they ever let them out and they said 'no, they're scared they won't be able to get them back in'.

Thoughts? Is there such an animal as a 'cage bird'? 😢

[quote MsWonderful]@Leaannb IMO it’s wrong to create an animal purely to be in captivity and dependent on humans. They still have instincts.[/quote]
Ehh...

Ehh what?

[quote MsWonderful]@Leaannb IMO it’s wrong to create an animal purely to be in captivity and dependent on humans. They still have instincts.[/quote]
Hit post too soon...Ehhh...it's no different than the domestication of dogs.

I used to have budgies, they were out of the cage all the time except when they chose to be there or at night.

I would love a bird but won't have one as a pet as I don't have enough space. Any pet animal deserves to have a stimulating and interesting life.

So incredibly cruel. I feel a hypocrite because we have guinea pigs but they are the latest in a long line of rescues and have the biggest indoor hutch in the conservatory next to the kitchen, a huge run in the garden and the expectation they are cuddled x2 a day. I have owned rabbits, again rescues, but had a walled garden and they hopped about happily and sometimes popped in to see us. They were such stunning animals. I would love rabbits again but we cannot do it safely and give them freedom. In my job I have come across a lonely flopsy sat in a hutch all day. It makes me weep.

Just one of the many ways we abuse animals. We love some, yet eat/cage others. Only our perception and excuses change.

Leannbb I agree really. I think dogs must get more out of their domesticated lives than caged birds though, if they have owners who take them for enough walks, and they get the chance to meet other dogs. I think dogs had more choice than birds do about whether to live with humans or not, at least at the start of the relationship, 1000s of years ago.
Whereas I doubt birds started flying willingly into cages.

@willstarttomorrow

So incredibly cruel. I feel a hypocrite because we have guinea pigs but they are the latest in a long line of rescues and have the biggest indoor hutch in the conservatory next to the kitchen, a huge run in the garden and the expectation they are cuddled x2 a day. I have owned rabbits, again rescues, but had a walled garden and they hopped about happily and sometimes popped in to see us. They were such stunning animals. I would love rabbits again but we cannot do it safely and give them freedom. In my job I have come across a lonely flopsy sat in a hutch all day. It makes me weep.

@willstarttomorrow I don't think you need to feel guilty about your pets, they obviously have a much better life now. I also feel like a hypocrite because I'm not a vegetarian! I've cut down a lot but here I am judging and yet I eat animals

I hate to see birds or any animal, mammal caged up.
More so dog's. Seeing dog's in cages in their own homes makes me grind my teeth like nothing else.

Some people keep birds but let them fly freely in the house basically all day. They sleep all night like us so being caged at night isn't a problem. That's, in my opinion, the only ethical way the keep birds, unless you have a huge aviary where they can genuinely fly (not just hop from side to side).

Small mammals are different in my opinion because they can generally fulfil all their natural behaviours within a good size cage. The problem is, most of them aren't kept in the proper size cages.

@MsWonderful

Leannbb I agree really. I think dogs must get more out of their domesticated lives than caged birds though, if they have owners who take them for enough walks, and they get the chance to meet other dogs. I think dogs had more choice than birds do about whether to live with humans or not, at least at the start of the relationship, 1000s of years ago. Whereas I doubt birds started flying willingly into cages.

No they are bred to be pets. Just like dogs were/are....These are not birds caught in the wild. These are birds that are bred and born into captivity. Just like dogs have a serious issue living in the wild so would these birds. Their instinct has been bred out of them

So if they’re able to get out of the cage and fly out of the house, they won’t? You can’t breed millions of years of instinct out of a creature just like that.

Has anyone linked this to transatlantic slavery yet (I skimmed the thread , sorry) and feel that future generations will be blown of mind that we thought keeping pets is perfectly OK? I don't think this by the way, but it does seem a absurd when you really think about it.

Parrot owner here. He is only in his cage when both me and dp are out or bedtime. Dp wfh and he likes to take part in the team zoom calls (he sits on dp shoulder and watches quietly) he also hates the outdoors and growls when the door is open ,wind blowing through the trees, anyone in the garden in his eyeline .

Any caged animal is cruel, including zoo animals. I grew up with a menagerie of caged animals at home and I vowed never to do it to anything else. So we are pet free.

@Doingtheboxerbeat

Has anyone linked this to transatlantic slavery yet (I skimmed the thread , sorry) and feel that future generations will be blown of mind that we thought keeping pets is perfectly OK? I don't think this by the way, but it does seem a absurd when you really think about it.

Me and DH loved the show travelers. Was about people who came from the distant future to make small changes to save the world. Standard stuff for sci-fi. Anyway, all the characters were vegan. That was the future standard. When they had meals it was a table filled with the brightest fruits and vegetables. And one had the line that when they arrived they found the fridge was filled with something called bacon. And they weeped when they found out what that was.

If people think caged birds are cruel (which is totally valid view) then surely they think all domesticated house pets are cruel?

Otherwise why is a caged bird worse than a hamster or rabbit or guinea pig or house cat?

@Leaannb

Dogs have been domesticated for around 30,000 years, they've been changed genetically and physically from their wolf ancestors through the domestication process
Budgies and other parrots have not. So it's not the same as keeping a dog as a pet, but more like keeping a wolf with a few different colour variants. Parrot species are evolved to fly in flocks numbering thousands, they have complex and fulfilling social lives and live in tropical climates with an absolute need for UV light. They are also good problem solvers with some parrot species scoring similarly in intelligence/problem solving tests as school-aged children

Please tell me how the average person can realistically provide for their complex cognitive, social and physical needs in a cage in the living room? The vast majority of pet parrots show forms of abnormal behaviour, feather picking, or aggression - usually a combination of inappropriate nutrition environment and behavioural opportunities.

@WhatILoved I personally do feel the same about hamsters and rabbits.

[quote Veterinari]@Leaannb

Dogs have been domesticated for around 30,000 years, they've been changed genetically and physically from their wolf ancestors through the domestication process
Budgies and other parrots have not. So it's not the same as keeping a dog as a pet, but more like keeping a wolf with a few different colour variants. Parrot species are evolved to fly in flocks numbering thousands, they have complex and fulfilling social lives and live in tropical climates with an absolute need for UV light. They are also good problem solvers with some parrot species scoring similarly in intelligence/problem solving tests as school-aged children

Please tell me how the average person can realistically provide for their complex cognitive, social and physical needs in a cage in the living room? The vast majority of pet parrots show forms of abnormal behaviour, feather picking, or aggression - usually a combination of inappropriate nutrition environment and behavioural opportunities. [/quote]
^ 100% agree. Horses and cats also.

@JulesCobb, I loved Travelers and was gutted when it was cancelled.
Attitudes change though, some slower than others. I watched an old episode of Sex and the City and was blown away by how much Carrie smoked - even though I only quit myself less than 18 months ago .

My dd's neighbour has some sort of myna bird. Gets put out on the step in it's cage for some fresh air. How despondent it must feel the wind blowing through it so trapped..
Makes me quite very sad.

It’s quite an unpleasant human trait, to see a beautiful or interesting creature and think ‘I’d like to keep that in a cage for my own gratification’

What about canaries? Thought they were domesticated.