Abstract
Whenever people ask me to recommend
a good place to buy an exotic
bird, I urge them to contact local
breeders through one of the Puget
Sound area bird clubs. Generally I do
not recommend pet stores. Why? In
the first place, a buyer who wants to
shop at a pet store will find a responsible
one through the bird club. In the
second place, too many pet stores sell
wild-caught birds without regard to
whether or not those birds will
become good pets.
When I was a child I fell in love
with parrots after meeting only two.
Both, belonging to the families of
friends, were kept in cages full-time.
One was a double yellow head; the
other might have been a greencheek. I
was warned to keep my fingers away
from the cages, to watch from a distance.
And watch I did. I loved their
movements, their expressions, their
color. Yet I could have no interaction
with them nor could they with any
other living creature. They were wildcaught
Amazons that had "turned
vicious'' or that their owners had
given up training. Such birds often
live short lives, their health run down
by malnutrition, lack of exercise, and
unclean conditions. Often they are
sold and resold to unsuspecting
novices.