A sad reminder of what is ultimately behind the birds you find in cages: birds being taken from the wild and subjected to horrible stress and, often, death. Even birds that were bred in captivity are still not domesticated, have wild instincts, and are not meant to live in cages.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
Well, then it is also a sad reminder of the unintended consequences of abolitionism and prohibition.
Parrots and other creatures suffer, die and are extirpated in even larger numbers before their capture and trade is outlawed.
Do you think it should be legal to capture and sell African Greys? If not, then what is your point? If so, well, I have nothing to say to you other then I find your opinion repugnant.
I don’t think that is what Sara means, Corey. It’s like, say, cocaine. It is reasonable to say prohibition of the trade in cocaine has horrific unintended consequences without supporting cocaine itself.
@Duncan: But there are arguments to be made about the legalization of cocaine and other drugs and people make them – usually the same folks who are making arguments about the negative consequences of the prohibition.
Where do you go from making such arguments about the banning of the capture and sale of wild parrots for the pet trade? That the prohibition should be lifted? I find that repugnant. Whether it is legal or illegal I find the capture and sale of wild birds for the pet trade wrong.
If the only point sara, who writes a blog based around her ownership of birds, is making is that people will break laws for money, well, that’s a lesson I don’t think anyone who has interacted with other people needs pointed out to them.
Thanks, Duncan. For the record, I do support cocaine and Cuban cigarettes, though I have only inhaled the latter 🙂