Caged Birds.

Too much is banned imo but I also keep fish in a large pond and sometimes my dogs sleep in crates. Their are times in life when they need to be contained and it's better I get them used to it rather than them freaking out when caged at the vets for example.
My parrot comes in and out of her cage has a mooch around and goes back in of her own accord, she can't think it's so bad. We've tried hard to make the cage as interesting as we can for her but I obviously can't replicate the home she was designed to live in. I say designed rather than bred as she was bred in captivity. I could just house her in a tiny cage and leave it completely bare, give her no toys or anything to amuse herself with, lots of people do but I choose to try and give her the best life possible and she shows every sign of being happy. I doubt if I left the back door open she'd venture far but she'd be in danger from predators. I think I'll carry on protecting her and giving her the best life I can.

If grey parrots perch near food and won’t fly far why put them in a cage? Any cage big all small is a prison.

I am reflecting on dogs and cats and agree with re rodents and other caged pets. It was goldfish on a tank on the counter of a restaurant that started this conversation with a friend. Yes goldfish bowls should be band.

Large cages are expensive and very large cages are only suitable for larger birds due to the spacing between the bars. If you put a smaller bird in a very large cage it could put it's head through the bars and injure or even kill itself. Most parrots if given the opportunity to fly still won't, they do short flights between places to perch but won't fly for miles. Whereas birds such as cockatiels will fly for miles as they would looking for food in the wild. Parrots like African greys would just perch as close to the food source as possible. Which is why they are given toys to play with, boxes to forage in and nets to climb and amuse themselves with.

I don't like caged birds, my mother has a parrot and its in a small cage, she does let him out though and takes great care giving him treats and talking to him but I hate that small cage and she will not spend on a large one

I had a budgie as a child, and we found a lost one and as it was never claimed we kept it. It landed on DD1s pram as I was crossing the road! I am listening to Alice Walker now!

We have a colony of parrakeets in the tall trees at the bottom of our garden.They fly very fast and high, and watching them yesterday I felt sorry that similar birds could be restricted to cages, no matter how big. I love hearing them chatter (loudly!) amongst themselves.

I don’t like to see birds in cages either.

I agree, I always feel sad at the sight of caged birds. I have never liked zoos either, and the more I know about what goes on behind closed doors the more my thoughts are reinforced. Humans are very cruel.

There might be exceptions. Our neighbour was given two beautiful white fantail pigeons.
www.preloved.co.uk/classifieds/pets/birds/all/uk/fantail+pigeons
They had a cage where they went at night but she let them out during the day. They kept returning to their home.
There's a whole history about homing pigeons. They saved lives in wartime.

Its not just cage size, its social/family/mate structure which is lacking for most of these birds. In some species of bird this drives then to self harm and depression

I've always hated seeing birds in cages ,when I was 4 I opened the cage and let my mums 2 budgies out the window.The whole street was out trying to catch them but I thought then...and now that its the cruelest form of keeping a pet there is.WHY would you keep a creature that has the ability to fly and soar above the ground in a cage indoors ?
Surely flight is one of the greatest of gifts ?

To me the issue is how large the cage is in relationship to the bird or animal. I would happily support a ban on birdcages under a certain size relative to the bird kept, but I don't care for the thought of banning keeping birds or hamsters in cages as a general principle.

What about turtles and fish in ponds or aquaria?

Parrots and similar (budgies etc) are the worse because their social systems cant be recreated as pets and so many parrots become depressed or violent as a result :-(

I have an African Grey, I got her when she was 5 because her previous owner became allergic. She is housed in a large cage about 6 ft wide by 6 ft high and 3 ft deep it's the biggest cage available, she also gets the opportunity to fly around the large conservatory, where she has ropes and toys to amuse herself. She's trained to crap in one spot on paper. She'll probably outlive me and my kids will rehome her.So I won't be getting another. In some ways she's better off than being in the wild where they don't live long, generally sit on a branch with others doing nothing. Here she gets well fed and her life in enriched by contact with us and having her every whim met. Is it ideal, probably not but they live about 5 years in the wild and look as miserable as hell at least here she seems happy chatting away to herself and us and telling the dogs off. She's well fed, her life is enriched I don't see what more we can do tbh.

I'm not a vegan or even vegetarian, but I'm becoming less and less comfortable with the idea of pets, in general.
I do like the fact that cats come and go as they please, generally.

I also cannot stand to see caged birds,never having the chance to fly or occasionally being allowed to fly around a room. I do not like to see any caged animals either and cannot see what people get out of having hamsters,gerbils etc also house cats that never roam their neighbourhood,catch a mouse or laze in the sun.