Good Bird Store.

[salana]

You buy from 'better' pet stores, but you wouldn't buy from an outright abusive one.

It's also much easier to get a really bad pet store shut down than a 'good' one. Food for thought: are 'good' pet stores contributing more to animal overpopulation than the really awful ones?

[Chocolate Cavy]

Originally Posted by salana

Food for thought: are 'good' pet stores contributing more to animal overpopulation than the really awful ones?

Yes, they are, and I value that piece of information. The fact that the Pet Stores are 'better' makes people more willing to buy from them, which makes them nearly twice as worse as the terrible, abusive ones. But you have to admit that if there was a choice between a good or bad condition for an animal, you would choose the good condition, right?

'Better' Pet Stores aren't perfect, and actually they don't help with the main issue at all, but they are a start in animal welfare, and if I had a choice where the breeder's piggies go, my second choice would be a 'better' Pet Store.

Naturally my first choice would be a responsible Rescue, but those are limited, right?

[Emmett]

Just try Googling "bird rescue" and see how many bird need homes. It's eye opening.

[Jennicat]

Originally Posted by salana

You buy from 'better' pet stores, but you wouldn't buy from an outright abusive one.

It's also much easier to get a really bad pet store shut down than a 'good' one. Food for thought: are 'good' pet stores contributing more to animal overpopulation than the really awful ones?

Salana makes an excellent point. How many people buy from Petsmart because the animals are "healthy and clean". How many people go to First Flight, feeling good about themselves because the birds are in clean cages and buy them anyway.

[Alusdra]

The sad thing is that some stores will deliberately keep their animals in poor conditions to encourage the pity buy. Sad but true... and parrots especially seem to have few or no legal protections, though this is true of most exotic species. One pet store I shall never set foot in again had two 7+ foot Burmese pythons in a cage not even 5 feet long...

As for bird overpopulations- it is a HUGE problem. It is getting to the point where there is such a surplus that they will need to be euthanized in shelters. Most rescues are overflowing and/or have waiting lists. The rescue I got my parrot from and work with has had hundreds of animals go through them; everything from Hyacinth macaws to budgies (lots and lots of budgies... though more cockatiels).

[seagirl96]

I have a friend who is a member of a bird rescue society. She would laugh about no bird rescues. Did you ever look on petfinder.com? Iwas so amazed that there are parrots and cockatoos etc. that sell for hundreds and even thousands of dollars that are in desperate need of a good home. Who knew? I sure didn't until I looked.

Thanks to this forum I now know where and how to look and know that any kind of pet is out there in large quantities. I will never purchase any kind of pet or domesticated animal again.