Dear Parrots magazine,
The Rat Pack - no clipped wings
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Rat Pack article in the February 2012 issue, and how lovely it was to see a large collection of parrots that are all fully-flighted and able to fly at will.
It is sometimes forgotten, parrots need their wings to balance and save themselves from falling, and if just one wing is clipped, how lop-sided even limited flight can be, which more often than not, can lead to a dangerous crash-landing. A wing-clipped parrot can also suffer mentally, and can experience all sorts of anxiety problems which can lead to feather-plucking. A parrot that cannot fly also feels a terrible lack of confidence and feels frightened in certain situations, as a result of not being able to fly, as it no longer has the means to escape.
Young birds under a year-old will not get enough exercise or develop properly if they can’t fly and as a result will suffer from withered or undeveloped muscles, a weakened heart and all sorts of mental anxieties too, which will affect them for the rest of their lives. So, I urge all readers to please think twice about clipping the wings of their pet parrots and do as Angela does - lets her Rat Pack and their friends fly free in the specially adapted bird area in her home!
Gerry Oswald - by email