Stop Selling Birds at stores/online & move to adoptions only

Have you seen how Birds suffer, isolated, confined & unable to fly (cruel clipping wings) at stores for months & even years?

Not always at-will baths, fresh foods, fresh air, sun..etc.

Rescues, shelters..etc. are already full & overwhelmed with Bird surrenders. They need major help for themselves & the Birds! The Bird / Parrot CRISIS ( as The International Alliance for the Protection of Parrots- IAPP refers to it) is now also affecting their guardians emotionally, financially..etc. 

Customers have plead, asked, messaged, called..etc pet stores several times, for years now to make welfare improvements coast-to-coast, educate more..etc. Still NO changes.

For ex. customer asked 2+ managers & corporate for assistance for the Bird(s) needing a hand with pin feathers on their head for over a month. Sadly, nope. IYKYK that's very uncomfortable, unable to reach head & neck.etc on their own. Some would even say neglect. When Birds are molting, esp. need access to water, baths, probably dirt too..etc

Also, another ex. customers asked stores & corporate to please provide Budgies at ALL locations with wooden toys, foraging..etc. Something better, safer.. other than just those rainbow colored PLASTIC chain links hanging inside the Budgie enclosures. Nothing has changed.

Images & reports of enclousres in several states, locations with NO perches, or even broken. & also without ANY wooden toys! Fallen ladders..etc.

Store managers say corporate's aviary sets things and they're very strict! They also feel badly for the Birds, Animals, however they're "hands are tied", "that's policy" , unable to help & spend more time with the Animals as much as they'd wish. They say they're so busy at the registers, with customers, working on the floor, w/ other Animals..etc. For ex. fix like  placement of toys, so they're accessible.  

Birds need Avian specialty veterinary care, which they're not always getting at stores. They hide their injuries/illnesses well & you don't find out until it's too late!

This lead to #JusticeForLittleBuddy dying too soon (1 day later - not as pet stores 1 year guarantee) of lead poisoning, underweight, dehydrated.. etc. Rescues call for change, please see news story & other petitons. 

Birds from mills are often sick & carry diseases. They're dying sooner.  Little Buddy was also sadly from Sun Pet mill in GA. appears these are the same Black Capped Conures all throughout USA & even in MA.

Please visit adoptable Birds, Parrots at your nearby rescues. Thank you!!

#JusticeForLittleBuddy & flock

An Excerpt from - Summer 2024 | The Official NEEWSLetter of Foster Parrots & The New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary

"Foster Parrots' 4-year battle to get legislation passed in Massachusetts to ban the sale of unweaned baby birds and prohibit the transportation of unweaned babies across MA state lines. We were not successful. But that's another story...
Under extreme pressure from the avian welfare sector and from PETA, Petco discontinued the sale of "large parrots" from their retail stores in 2005, soon to be followed by PetSmart (although the jury is still out on that claim). At that time, Petco President and CEO,
Bruce C. Hall, spun the public announcement as an "opportunity to work with PETA," declaring, "We recognize that most of our bird customers are what we would call 'beginning hobbyists'. Large birds are not necessarily appropriate for these individuals due to their long lifespan, size and care requirements."

Commendable on a basic level, but the gesture did not go far enough. This left a large number of small but no less intelligent and sentient species on the table for sale in Petco and PetSmart stores as "hobby birds," demonstrating a disturbing disregard for the lives of the birds they would continue to sell. After all, the life spans of small Birds like Conures, Quakers and even Cockatiels can potentially range from 30 to over 40 years. Are these not also long life spans? And are the care requirements of small species Parrots not also significant enough to require a more educated and committed consumer demographic?
But the sins of the retailers go so much further than that, reaching all the way back into sickening cruelty and abuse suffered by millions of Birds, small mammals and reptiles at "animal mills" that have supplied — and in effect have been endorsed by — Petco, PetSmart, Petland and other pet retailers.

It seems there's hardly an animal welfare organization in existence today that isn't waging some kind of campaign against Petco and PetSmart, urging them to stop selling birds and other small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and arachnids. The Avian Welfare Coalition, World Animal Protection, In Defense of Animals, PETA, and many others continue to wage a war against Petco and PetSmart. Foster Parrots enthusiastically endorses the efforts of these organizations and continues to take the stand we began over 20 years ago."

From - Summer 2024 | The Official NEEWSLetter of Foster Parrots & The New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary

From AWC's petition- almost 75,000 signatures

"Retail sale of birds promotes the suffering of millions of individuals, who are kept in conditions unsuitable to express their natural behaviors, released outdoors to die, or relinquished to overburdened and unprepared shelters.

Whether the Bird is wild-caught or captive-bred, their welfare in captivity is frequently poor. It is very difficult to meet the needs of these intelligent, highly social, flight-adapted animals in a home environment. Sadly, many natural Parrot behaviors are often the very ones that lead to relinquishment or abuse of the Bird.

It is simply impossible for Petco and PetSmart to conduct the necessary screening, education, and post-placement follow-up and support that rescue groups typically engage in when they place birds in private homes.

Here are some of the common fates faced by birds purchased in retail pet stores:

• Spend the bulk of their days confined to a cage incapable of accommodating flight and other natural behaviors.
• Relinquished to shelters that are already overwhelmed with unwanted animals.

Petco and PetSmart first eliminated the sale of dogs and cats, then rabbits and larger species of birds, such as cockatoos, macaws, and African greys, due to ethical concerns. Now, it's time to take the next step.

At a time when many companies are focusing on sustainability and social responsibility, Petco and PetSmart should recognize the sale of captive birds is incongruent with those goals and will commit to ending all bird sales by 2025.

text from the Avian Welfare Coalition (AWC)"