No Questions Asked

A small white parakeet flies over the heads of the hundreds of visitors at the Stafford County Showground. A small boy is in hot pursuit, trying to grab the bird whenever it drops within reach of his grasping hands. The bird has no idea where's it going, or what it'll do when it gets there - it's free, that's all that matters. It could be a cockatiel, maybe a budgie, it's moving too fast to see. What was certain to all onlookers was that the massive -thud- of the small bird flying straight into a window must've bloody hurt. A chorus of onlookers cries in dismay at the sound, like spectators watching a horrifically bad tackle at a football match. The parakeet flaps down like a falling petal to the windowsill in a daze before the boy snatches it up and returns the bird to the tiny sale cage, ready for a potential buyer. And so it's business as usual at the National Parrot Society UK show.

As far as I'm aware, the show is held at Stafford County Showground annually, although this was my first experience. My girlfriend Philippa and I had returned to my hometown to see this show and gain some knowledge on parrot keeping from the huge horde of parrot breeders that descend upon Stafford for a single day. 

Philippa hopes to one day bring an African Grey into any future home we might have, preferably a rescue bird that needs a new home, or a bird that someone no longer has the time for. This is something that I am all too happy with - both of us have a lot of experience with a multitude of different animals, from mantids to horses, and we've both been putting a lot of research together over the past 6 months (the sight of wild cockatoos in Australia probably helped move the idea along, as well) to ensure that we really know what we're doing before we let a parrot into our home. What I know without even having ownership of a parrot is that they are a massive commitment, from the teeniest tiniest Parrotlet to the gargantuan Hyacinth Macaw. They are sensitive birds, each one unique from the other - you really have to be prepared to deal with the responsibility to taking care of the bird's needs and do the necessary time to keep the bird satisfied and socialised, or else you run the risk of further choking up animal rescue shelters with your ill-advised purchase. And it was with this knowledge that my girlfriend and I were left feeling a little disturbed by the time we left the Parrot Society show last Sunday.

No easy task: Cockatoos, such as this adorable Umbrella Cockatoo, are highly demanding birds that could take the strain on any unwitting owner.

The sight that first greets when you enter the Showground is actually quite amazing - aside from the throng of vistors, literally thousands of birds are caged in rows in main arena, birds of almost any description. In some cages, proven pairs of breeding parrots are available for purchase. Larger aviaries are also present, usually containing the larger cockatoo and macaw species. And along the sides, stalls provide everything from vitamin supplements to the cages for your bird. So far so good.

Then you take a closer look.

The actual intention of the show is to act as a platform for breeders across the country to gather and exchange stock for breeding schemes. In practise, this is quite clearly not the case. I would be surprised if even 20% of the visitors to the show were breeders. I'm not a breeder, and I was personally offered deals on various birds, including quails, of all creatures. Philippa questioned many breeders on how to care for certain birds but received many unhelpful answers, including one man who couldn't even tell her what the bird cages he was selling were made of, even though some materials in poorly designed cages are highly toxic to parrots. Not once did it seem as though the breeders were concerned about what kind of home their birds were going to, and we left the show with many questions unanswered.

We overheard a lot of conversations between buyers and breeders where the only topic of discussion was haggling the price of the parrot, including for example the purchase of a baby cockatoo that was born with a twisted upper beak, which surely would have required some additional discussion regarding the bird's unfortunate deformity. Nope, the money changed hands, the buyer left without so much as a word, and the breeder carried on selling on the rest of the 'stock'. And there were a lot of people, mainly families with young children, that were out buying, as we observed those leaving the show from a vantage point. It was just too easy to see where the priorites of the breeders lay and I was quite disappointed that they didn't even seem to pretend that they cared about the bird's welfare once it had changed hands. I was left wondering how many of the purchased birds would be alive by the turn of November.

A few of the birds themselves looked pretty miserable to be there. The noise of the Showground, the constant attentions of hundreds of different people, not to mention the small cages which lacked any toys to keep the birds occupied and stimulated, made for some very unhappy birdies and for a very distressing scene. I can only hope that they aren't kept in the same conditions when not being displayed, but I think I would be grossly misplacing my optimism. I had intended to get some photos of the show but left my camera back at home, so the best demonstration of the overall mood of some of the birds will have to be demonstrated by this picture:

Seeing these parrots (including one species of cockatoo that only has a population of 1,000 in the wild) in such a generally sorry state was very depressing. To many of the breeders, they were just units of commerce and the almost industrial approach to breeding such intelligent creatures is completely unjustifiable. I was also surprised to see wild British bird species being sold, such as thrushes, wood pigeons and doves. Birds even less suited to a life of captivity than parrots, and that's saying something.

There were good breeders of course, albeit a small handful. Some were generally interested in taking questions from people and educating them about the birds that they reared for sale. There was also some incredibly good deals on toys, cages and other equipment for birds.  Despite this, Philippa and I will probably avoid buying a parrot from a show such as this. If we even intended to buy a parrot from a breeder, which seems unlikely, we'll be sure to visit the breeder's home to see how they are properly cared for, as well as to get to know the breeder better as a source of information once the bird was in our care. We'll soak up all the advice and information we can, from every source, like a giant parrot sponge, and then squeeze all of that knowledge out when the time is right for us.

The bottom line: If you're going to keep something, do it right. Especially if that something is another living creature.