Caged in

The bird in the pic is my pet African Grey parrot Rosebud. My family got her for free due to the fact her previous owners were divorcing. African Grey parrots tend to form a bond with one special person in a household. For Rosebud that special person was me. Rosebud is 25 or 26 years old, African Greys live to around 70-80 I believe. Having a pet African Grey is great but the process they endure to get here is not worth it. I watched a video once of how they capture African Greys and it was one of the worst things I've seen. People with carelessly grab the birds by their wings, and shove them into a flat wooden box. The box looked less than a foot high. After being crammed in the box with many others the birds endure a long flight to America. During that flight over 50% of them die. Not many African Greys survive the treacherous process of being shipped. And all of this for what? Our amusement? Do we really want a pet African Grey, or any parrot for that matter, so badly that we are willing to let probably thousands of birds die just that we can have one? I say no. And what do we do with them? All we do is lock them up in a small cage when they could live their lives free and flying. And that's another thing, clipping their wings is so wrong. It's like taking some ones arms off. Birds in captivity are more likely to die sooner then free birds. Some days I look at Rosebud and I just want to cry. She could have had a much better life if she was free, but now she's stuck in a cage, she can't fly, and she will never be able to be free until death. And for that reason I give her as much love as I can and the best care I'm capable of. I love her, but I wish she was free. 

Don't underappreciate your pets cause they might have gone through a lot to get to your house.               

                                                                  -Faith_Young