A very good article on bird abuse....

[Montys Mommy]

Wow, thank you for posting such an informative read. When i worked at pet stores,people would tell me all the time about their birds and really thought they were providing the best environment for them, then I would refer them to magazines, books, show them toys that they needed, instructed them on care, refered them to websites, persuaded them to get bigger cages, etc. Most were more than willing to do whatever they needed to do to make their bird happy because they truly loved their birds, but were just misinformed on care (for example, all a budgue needs for toys is a mirror and a bell...) and then there were the few and far between that would say something like "Well, I've been doing it this way for x amount of years and it's doing fine so I shouldn't have to change anything"

[Ingrid]

My head hurts now
Ingrid

[Kevin]

Yea, not a huge fan of these sorta posts... but I will let it run its course...

[Monica]

Pitty that I've added to this thread a while ago, and still even if I tried to inform people, they keep doing what they have been doing... Sometimes they agree whole-heartedly with feeding other foods, then go around and not do a thing... case in point, the tiels who are on a wild bird seed diet... I once went over to the home when no one was there (I didn't break and enter, I'm rather a "close friend" that could be considered a "family member"), and actually cleaned and scrubbed the cage down. A lot of good that did, cause it was kept "clean" for a short while and now the bottom is covered in old seed again... and the seed dishes are filled up to the top, and the tiels eat the top layer then starve... Sometimes reason doesn't work...

I'm actually getting tired about hearing these stories and would rather consentrate on the birds that have been saved. To add, I knew of a family of tiels (before I got into birds) that were well taken care of (minus maybe fresh foods) and were happy! They even successfully bred! They were taken care of by a kid who really cared about them. Then he discovered girls, and sports... Needless to say, guess who *finally* got them after at least 2 years of asking if I'd take them??? (I had said on several previous occasions that I'd take them but never saw them until they were literally at my door step! I wasn't expecting to actually ever see them)

They came here smelling like a bar full of chain smokers (saying an ash tray or other doesn't quite fit how horrible they smelled of smoke), their cage was actually YELLOW from the smoke itself, and the mother was picking, mutilating, and clipping her feathers. The mother had literally clipped herself, by removing her flight feathers on her left wing (ALL of them), clipping her tail feathers, and even mutilated her left wing. Within two days I had cleaned up their old cage and transferred them to a larger cage. Within that time I saw 1 plucked blood feather, and 1 egg (as I heard they layed eggs frequently... more than likely Kiwi the mother). After that I saw a small amount of feathers, but none that I actually thought were being plucked out (rather fallen out/molted).

Kiwi's doing great, I haven't noticed any flight feathers growing in yet (but I can't wait for them to actually come in! I'm sure they are more than likely to!), though most of her tail feathers are now about 3/4's of the way grown, some nearly finished growing, and she's just looking great! Pistachio on the other hand has a plucked head and I doubt he will regrow these feathers as there are no signs of new feather growth...

[MaryG1959]

You cannot tell an animal abuser by the way the look or act around humans. They could be the nicest, friendlies most social people. A lot of people have multiple pets, they'll love one and hate the others. For instance, tying a dog outside, allowing it to be infested with ticks and fleas. Having 4 birds and keeping three locked away somewhere while showering time attention and affection on the other........Letting your cat run the neighborhood so that it has "freedom"....not changing water dishes, not providing clean and wholesome food, not providing what the animal needs for a happy healthy life. Not providing veterinary care. All of which are cause for concern.

Lets also not forget those animal hoarders who "insist" they are rescuing the animals. Lets face it, no one I know can successfully take care of 80 cats and 20 dogs.

All you can do is when you tell people that you have birds---don't glamourize it. Tell them the truth, sometimes they are so loud they make your ears bleed, that they bite, can be messy, take time, take money and that they require one on one time, new toys and expensive cages as well as veterinary care.

The other thing you can do is report abuse of any kind, human abuse, animal abuse---doesn't matter--it is all the same.

[red192]

Animal Abuse, being frogs to horses, any animal is uncalled for! I can not watch Animal Cops w/o crying in it at some point! Why would people abuse ANY animal!

[Peregrine Harlequin]

I can not watch Animal Cops w/o crying in it at some point!

I never cry, but I always think that those (insert favorite term for animal abuser here) are lucky that I don't show up. I'd probably end up doing more jail time than them!

But thanks for the reminder on neglect/abuse. Not that I think anyone here needs such a reminder, but sometimes we forget just how well off our own pets are.

[Alyce Johnson]

There was a murder 30+ years ago in the rural county I grew up in. A Jr High school boy was arrested for it, as the woman had managed to call 911 (and tell them who had raped & shot her) before he returned to the scene and shot her again.

Anyway, being a minor, his name was withheld. My mom, who was a teacher there at the time, immediately came up with 2 (and only 2) possible kids. One of them was this kid, who had killed the woman. (He also tried to kill another woman, once he got out of jail in his 20s. He's back in again - for now.)

Asked how she was able to guess, my mom cited his abuse of animals. He would come to school bragging about hurting animals & pets. She correctly realized that this made him capable of enjoying harming a human, too, at a point.

This stuff is serious, and needs to be seen for what it says about the person.
And that young man who torched the parakeet is very lucky he is not my son!
I would see that he got the maximum penalty.

[Hayabusa]

Resurrecting an old thread, but I think it needs to get more attention.

Yes, people who abuse animals can easily become killers. The Green River serial killer (Gary Ridgway) was known to abuse and kill animals as a youngster. I'll bet almost every serial killer has animal abuse instances in their youth.

http://www.spca.bc.ca/link/research.asp

I think that the laws on animal abuse have really been changed in the last 5 years, and penalties are becoming stiffer ... but maybe still not stiff enough.

I think anyone convicted of animal abuse or killing should automatically be demanded by the courts to get a full mental evaluation and a complete history check of their life up to the point of conviction.

These abusers can't be just "slapped on the wrist" anymore !

[cpryslek]

instead of putting them in jail or other places,they should be humilated in front of everybody. to do this ALL animal/human abusers should wear a sandwich sign stating what they are charged with. it would only have to be done for a few days then they would KNOW exactly what it feels like to have EVERYBODY know what your crime is.case in point;a judge in sc here ordered a 16 yr old to wear a sign that said I AM A THIEF on one side the other side was I STOLED YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. guess what? the outcome is she WILL never steal again. she was to humilated that EVERYBODY in the town she is from knew what she did.