KB>KB>> What would YOU say, if "mars men" would attack the earth and would
KB>KB>> catch you and cut off your legs? You'd live a happy life???
KB>>  Exuse me? One simple difference, bird feathers grow back, legs do not.
KB>*But you will clip again* after the moult, won't you?
KB>By the way: there have been instances where amazons began to pluck their
KB>feathers after wing clipping! Clipping must be frustrating if the animal
KB>has been accustomed to flying a lot.
Klaus, think about this: we brought parrots out of their natural
habitats into OUR habitat, which is inherently dangerous for them. There
are only a few ways we can keep them really safe from all the things
they don't have instincts to avoid (like glass windows, toilets, boiling
pots of water, etc.). We can cage them, clip their wings, or pinion them
(cut off the first wing joint surgically) to keep them away from danger.
Caging 100% of the time isn't fair, and pinioning is cruel because that
IS irreversible.
Clipping feathers is really the only other option. Clipping, if kept up,
becomes the normal way of life for the bird. I have birds here who WON'T
fly, even when I do let their wings grow in--they prefer to be carried
around!
I believe that most feather plucking is caused by other things too--in
the case of the Amazons you mentioned, I'd almost bet they started to
pluck not because they were CLIPPEd, but because they were HANDLED. The
stress of having all their feathers ruffled may have been too much for
them to deal with mentally.
And yes, I clipped my budgies when I had them, to keep them from getting
up onto the high light fixtures where I could not reach them to get them
back down...
--Kathy
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