03/07/2024
Reminder birds are not toys… they’re for life! Think before you buy. There are just too many parrots looking for homes because their owners no longer have time. Young and old; they deserve better. Please support rescues.
Hi! My name is Bird... also called the f’ing bird.
I’m on to my 6th home in my first 8 years of my 50 or so year life. I remember my first 2 years as a little one as if it were yesterday. As I’d not been through hormones, I was extra cuddly and didn’t complain much. Mum and I were inseparable. We played together, cuddled together and she made the most delicious food especially for me. I went "shopping" with her and could choose my own fruit and vegetables for the week as well as yummy treats. She would spoil me and I could move freely in the house. Mum would often come home with a new toy, saying; "Every sweet prince deserves a gift”.
But one day she didn't come home. One of her friends came and picked me up. I was scared and confused. Where had she gone? A week turned into a year. Gone were my yummy treats and homemade food, replaced with a nasty all seed mix. I had to learn to eat black sunflower seeds that made me very nauseous, but I had to eat them or die of starvation.
Slowly I was forgotten in a corner and ignored. I started pacing around my small cage. Bored and frustrated I started plucking my feathers and even biting myself. All anyone wanted to know was could I talk or if they stuck their huge hand on my head, would I bite.
When visitors came I was told to talk or do a little dance. They’d “ooh” and “arh” and say "We’d love such a parrot!”. Then they’d leave. Then at other times I thought they’d like me to talk and I was shouted at to “shut up” or worse something thrown at my cage.
My cage was once a palace, but now a life sentence in imprisonment. I had no toys, so I constantly chew my dowel perches out of boredom, even though they put blood blisters on my feet. So they moved me outside and forgot all about me. Days without clean water, then finally they’d fill my bowl but neglect to clean it and my water would be all slimy. But I had no option, I must drink.
So today I arrive in my 8th home. Apparently they have “parrot” experience. However as the day went on, their 4 year old started hitting my cage with a stick. I became agitated and managed to grab the child’s hand resulting in a hard bite. The mum then slapped me against my head so hard that it felt my eyes pop out.
I now feel sick. I am struggling to catch my breathe. The dad has come home and there is a bad smelling smoke coming from the man’s magic stick, that makes my chest and eyes burn.
If this is my life, I don't want to live anymore. All I wanted was your love. You measured your love by time and work. You just made excuses. I didn’t really want to bite you, but how I can't trust a human hand when you just take? I am terrified and scared that I’ll be left alone again. I pluck my feathers because I am slowly dying. Soon it will be too late. My liver will fail and my heart will stop. You will never know the joy I could bring you. I don’t have any power to change my life; but you.
Post was written to raise awareness of Parrot ABUSE!
(For Australians)
~ Ilse Meyer
