Why buying a bird from a pet shop or breeder is not the same as rescuing it.
By Klaas Kingma
While it is very admirable to want to give a bird from a pet shop or breeder who is disabled or has been there for a while a better life there are a lot of things to consider before buying the bird.
Firstly, if you buy the disabled bird, you are telling the pet shop or breeder that someone will buy them which will lead to them breeding more birds and selling more birds with deformities and disabilities. Unfortunately, there are only so many birds that you can financially afford to buy and are physically able to care for.
Secondly, if you go in and buy the older bird from a pet shop they will have that bird replaced with a new younger bird by the end of the week and then you have just put another bird in the exact same position as the one you decided to buy. Buying from a pet shop also tells the pet shop owner that there is a demand for more birds and they will go buy more birds which leads to breeders breeding more and eventually there will not he enough demand for them and you’ll have another older bird waiting for someone to “rescue” it in the pet shop.
Finally, by supporting the pet trade you are telling breeders that there is a demand for more birds which leads to more breeders with more birds who won’t be able to find a home as well as more breeders who will breed irresponsibly because they’ll get more birds that way.
This does not mean that all breeders are horrible. There are ethical breeders, they exist and can be wonderful people, but that doesn’t make the trade right. It’s the trade that turns sentient beings into commodities so that babies are churned out for profit, and end up as young birds back at a pet shop, maybe being sold multiple times as uneducated owners ‘surrender’ (sell) them again and again because ‘they are worth money’, or finder keepers mentality of other folks who find a stray bird and keep it because ‘it’s valuable’. Or birds sold when families’ circumstances change.
Here are some of the stories of birds who have crossed our paths who passed away or have lifelong problems due to the irresponsibility of their breeders:
Hopefully reading this article has shown you some of the realities of breeders that should not be supported at all but have been supported by people trying to give those birds a better life. All these owners had to make the difficult decision of whether it was worth supporting the breeder to give the bird a better life and if you decide to do the same hopefully knowing some of the terrible things birds endure will help you make this very difficult decision.
Steele is a cockatiel who was surrendered to us by his owners who bought him from a breeder and then realized they would be unable to hand-rear him themselves. He unfortunately had chlamydia and a very rare lung worm which he got from the breeder and was never medicated for and he passed away.
Popcorn is a cockatiel who was bought from a breeder but was extremely wild still. We believe that the breeder had cut off her and her cage mates’ tail feathers so they could fit more birds into a smaller cage her wings were also cut by the breeder to the extent that they bled – she may never be able to fly due to feather follicle damage. After the trauma, she has experienced she is unlikely to become fully tame.
Ghandi is an African Grey who has made quite a large impact on us all. Her owner is a pretty big supporter of the work we do and team member Abi regularly fid sits her. Recently it came out that Ghandi had a fault in her digestive tract that developed as she aged and she also
had a malformed foot from birth. This means that they had to bypass her throat in order to feed her directly into her stomach because she physically couldn’t swallow her own food.
Yennefer was an Eclectus baby that a supporter bought because she had issues. She was blind, and deaf which were confirmed. She was also less than half the size she should have been developmentally, and wasn’t able to process nutrients efficiently in order to grow. She also had digestive issues which prevented her from eating as much as she needed. She also had scissor beak and splayed legs and all of these issues led to her not being able to be fully assessed. She had to be PTS because the vet recommended it as the most humane option.
Hopefully reading this article has shown you some of the realities of breeders that should not be supported at all but have been supported by people trying to give those birds a better life. All these owners had to make the difficult decision of whether it was worth supporting the breeder to give the bird a better life and if you decide to do the same hopefully knowing some of the terrible things birds endure will help you make this very difficult decision.
Whilst I agree 80% with this article and 100% understand the frustration of those working in the field of bird rescue/rehoming – i would argue that there is a valid place for some bird breeders – in that those who breed birds who are extict from their usual homelands or near to extinction – one day these aviary kept birds will be the living DNA that have the potential to re-populate the homelands (once we humans clean up our act). Some common aviary kept birds – that are kept often – are sometimes actually in very low numbers within the homelands – I think of the Scarlet chested parrot (Neophema splendida) – these are a very common kept aviary bird – many outside their homelands of Australia – yet in Australia – thanks to all the human activities of growing food, mining for resources for human homes, cars, TVs etc the parrot is in very low numbers and locally extinct in many places. One day no doubt (unless we can perfect the frozen DNA replications) these captive birds will form the living DNA for future lead special release programs.
I totally understand the overflow of rescue birds – it is a world wide issue; dogs and cats are much the same i would argue; and all the dog and cat rescues I have associations with are also overflowing. Humans in general continue to be under educated – even in this world of instant information at their finger tips it seems 🙁
I also totally understand why a person would go ahead and purchase an old or special needs bird in a pet store.
Personally i believe adequate regulations within the pet trade – all animals – with adequate staffing levels and authority would reduce “animal farming”. Puppy farming is just as despicable and many countries have started or introduced legislation to place pressure and highlight this practice – here in Australia – it is becoming more and more difficult for a person to sell puppies and you are required to be registered to breed – with all the relevant stipulations on this – I wish the same would be introduced for the Budgie and cockatiel mills.. beacuse they are the bulk offenders in my region. The reason being here that these birds are milled are because these bird species have “been removed from the registration requirements”. I get that other countries are not so regulated or supervised – believe me it is not the best here – but better than some other places.
Your work is amazing; you give hope to those birds that otherwise would lead a tragic life. Humans are disgraceful to other humans often; so of course they can be dispicable to other creatures.
Hi there. We don’t condemn all breeders. If there were none, none of us would have our pet parrots. The specific thing that we’re trying to bring to people’s attention is the fact that buying that old or disabled bird is unfortunately just going to put another bird in their place and so the cycle continues. Over and over again. We have a list of ethical breeders who take good care of their birds, give them natural perches, a varied diet and enrichment. So they do exist. But the problem is that they are usually outweighed 50 to 1. The thing with parrots who are extinct or nearing extinction is that there are established breeding programmes to try and boost those numbers. If I were to breed them in an aviary in my back yard because “they’re starting to go extinct and if I don’t there will be none left” that will do nothing for the species. Birds bred in captivity often don’t survive when reintroduced to the wild. Especially when the proper procedures are not being taken or that breeder is one of the ones who breeds irresponsibly.
We were also more specifically speaking towards South Africa’s problem with backyard breeders and unregulated breeding of parrots. Unfortunately the legal “standard of care” is basically “if it has food, water and shelter it’s fine” when we know that this is not nearly prescriptive enough. A parrot needs a varied diet, clean water, an adequately sized cage with natural perches and enrichment just to make a few. We actually gave some input on an article about our views for the raising of care standards. You can give it a read here: https://www.falsebayecho.co.za/news/draft-pet-policy-up-for-input-d8d5b6c4-8506-4aad-9e46-5bb395f215d2?fbclid=IwAR2WqirgqvQ95dGbRwuGscA3v-Q2yRKdXbvPEnKLm59BiNuKCzcV9rvgus8
The idea behing this post was basically the following: we are just wanting to start the cogs in people’s brains going so that they actually think about the impact that buying an old or disabled bird will have on the ones to come after them. To have them think further about the impact that their purchase might have down the line. Lately I’ve been seeing more and more often people who want to go buy a parrot solely because it’s disabled and they want to give it a good home and that’s admirable but what if that’s not the first or last one the breeder breeds? They will never be able to buy them all or even care for them all. Thanks for your support. Have a lovely day
Where in the York PA area can you rescue or Foster a bird
Good day Nadine, your best bet would be to Google parrot rescues in your area. Unfortunately, we only operate in South Africa.
Ny pet stores are not a llowed to sell puppies. Anymore. The cages they used are to be available for rescues. The only good thing hochul did in office nys gov.
Greetings. I live in Arizona and unfortunately there are no laws to protect birds in a pet shop. I am a bird lover and have always had birds and it is absolutely criminal how most pet shops treat the birds . in one store they had a large cage full of cockatiels, parakeets and finches. A couple of the cockatiels were clearly sick, they had patches of baldness were imatiated. Their water was more than dirty and their food was soiled with dropings. I brought this to the attention of the owner and he became rude and belligerent . i offered to clean the cage and seperate the birds and i even told him that i would buy baytril for the sick ones. The store owner said i should buy a bird and take care of it. At another pet shop they sell peacocks , pheasants and pigeons and they have one cage filled with ordinary pigeons which sell to hunters so they can train their dogs. They do not feed these pigeons nor give them water. A friend of mine recently bought two very sickly cockatiels for $150.00 each. One died about 5 days after she took her home and the other is under my care. I have looked up the laws pertaining to pets and petshops. Unfortunately they only protect the soulless bastard who is selling these poor birds. There are laws pertaining to cats and dogs and the pet store is bound by them but nothing for birds. Presently the charge 150 to 350 for one cockatiel.. Most people dont know any breaders , ethical or not. If you go to bird rescue to obtain a bird to love and care for, you will have to fill out a form and wait for months until they they approve you to take a bird that they dont want and they will charge you more than any shop or breader. Its called a rehoming fee or an adoption fee. It is rediculous. Would you rather pay for a bird that you can chose and take home after inspection. At least you may end up with a healthy bird. A bird rescue which is a 501C3 makes it very difficult for anyone interested where as the pet shops dont and they charge you more so what is a bird enthusiast to do.
I cant speak for every rescue but we charge far less than breeders do. I suspect that the reason other rescues charge so much is becasue of how well cared for the birds were- recieving healthy food and top vet care which they might not have recieved from a breeder selling for less
I didn’t know there was a bird rescuse.
I also was not aware of a bird rescue in or near Denver. Where do you suggest we get a bird if not through a breeder.bi owned a pet store whose mission was placing local litters into local homes…I understand the danger of being unaware of where the bird is from. My store was all about proper care, nutrition and handling to ensure a good fit between bird and buyer in thinking about getting a bird but am curious to know how you would recommend finding a quality bird, I have no problem getting a rescue… thx for any info.
Hi there. I did a quick Google search and there seem to be a few parrot rescues in Denver and the surrounding areas. I will always suggest adopting instead of buying from a store or a breeder, no matter how high the standards of care are in that store/at the breeder’s facility. There are so many reasons to rather invest in giving a rehomed bird a second chance at life. One of the main reasons I tell people is that we often get birds surrendered to us that were handreared in loving homes but then turned on their caregivers when they reached sexual maturity – which is unfortunately quite a big issue that most people don’t talk about. It’s a myth that you are guaranteed to have a better bond with your parrot if you buy it as a baby and handrear it yourself, because, as said above, birds tend to mimic the behaviour they would have exhibited in the wild, which includes leaving the nest and finding their own flock, so when you raise them, they see you as a parent, and they are likely to reject you when they reach a certain age. If you adopt an adult bird, chances are much higher that you will form a bond with him/her that will last a lifetime.
The Gabriel foundation, it’s in Parker Colorado. Just south of Denver. It is an amazing place. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Majority of Breeders in USA are con Artist . They don’t show you the bird
Also they charge you as you are buying a expensive watch . They are Pathetic with greed . One has lost charm in buying a parrot in USA
So don’t even bother with any Breeder
Please expound a little more on this subject. Are you suggesting that it would be better to purchase an older adult bird because birds that are hand fed and reared will eventually turn on it’s owner due to the bird becoming sexually mature??? That would be hundreds of rebellious birds turning on their owners. So everyone should go looking to buy adult birds? From where? Excuse me I’m not grasping the logic because those adult birds are still stemming from the rebel birds that have gone wild.
It’s obviously not guaranteed that this would happen, but the possibility of a bird turning on its owner that hand-raised it is something we would just like more prospective owners to be aware of. Many of the rehoming cases that our organisation deals with, comes about because of this issue – the bird turns on the primary caregiver and the rest of the household is not as committed/not as involved, so it is better for the parrot to rather find another family that can truly meet its needs. Many adult birds are for sale on classifieds (even on social media) or auction groups. As disgusting as it is that so many animals are being traded for profit daily, it’s a reality we have to deal with. As a rescue, our reasoning is that it has a higher chance of working out in the best possible way for both the humans and the birds if families consider adopting/buying an adult bird instead of getting a baby from a breeder.
After reading this its horrible and wouldn’t trust anyone.
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That’s a good idea for sure! Would you perhaps be interested in helping us out? 🙂
I love parrots, and I’m willing to take unwanted parrots
Hi there! You are welcome to apply via our online adoption application form if you have not done so yet.
My daughter aged 12 is a great animal lover. She suggested to me the other day that I must get her a rescued bird. I did not even think this was possible until I came across your article.
I was reading your article and I was curious about the African gray that had a deformed foot from birth.. I had a bird named Hugo and he said Hugo all the time and his foot was sideways when he walked or all the time should I say. I didn’t know what sex the bird was I just got him from another couple in Nebraska that was selling him and kept him until I was becoming homeless and had to get rid of him… I think about him everyday and when I read your article it kind of just freaked me out is there anyway I can get more pictures of like the foot or can you tell me if he makes beeping sounds like a microwave and says Hugo every once in awhile.. I guess I’m just curious because I really loved my bird and it would be nice to know if this is him if that’s a problem I understand but if not I haven’t email you can contact me at I miss him so much and would love to take care of him again,.
Hi. It is unlikely that this is the same bird as we are based in South Africa.