The Parrot on a Stick Exhibit (and why it should end)

Sedgwick County has something like five or six large macaws (and I mean Hyacinth and multiple Ara species) in a walkthrough aviary. I assume they're all flighted, but I don't know for sure.

~Thylo

 

I can't answer that as I couldn't compare with the aviary situation. I eventually rehomed them to a larger collection with a much large water area (lake) so if insufficient water space was the problem, which I think it may have been i.e. they wanted to move elsewhere, that at least was solved.

 

As many know, San Diego Zoo lets visitors into the front entry plaza half an hour before opening. They open the zoo each day by letting a large group of macaws fly out of a box and across the zoo to an unseen location. Lots of fun to see (though they also used to have macaws on a stick near the front by flamingos - not sure if they still do).

I know of at least two parrot rescue centers and there are likely many more. One is in southern California (near San Diego) and open to the public daily (@snowleopard visited and reported a few years ago). The other is in rural southern Arizona (a non-town called Cascabel) and is open for tours by appointment only.

 

I thinks it's as much a question of land as well as water space. However, they could not have been put on a lake unpinioned.....
I do think there is a difference between flight restricting a duck (or a pheasant) and a parrot (or worse still, a vulture -- I believe flight restricted vultures and even ground hornbills are still a feature in some American collections)

 

Untamed, non-breeding macaws are unlikely to bite or even approach people in a walkthrough, unless public feeding is allowed, which would be IMHO a Bad Idea

 

They were all pinioned...

I think vultures and birds of prey generally fare worse in captivity as their natural flight behaviours are far more compromised than e.g. waterfowl or gamebirds.

 

The saving grace for quality of life in captive raptors is that in the wild they spend much of their time NOT flying. Whether they miss soaring flight we can't know, but they certainly seem to live long and do well if their other requirements are met.

 

Flight restricted vultures and ground hornbills are frustratingly common here still...

When I visited the Topeka Zoo they had a pair of breeding Scarlet Macaws in their walkthrough that were actively chasing people and screaming at them. I'm not sure why the zoo thought that was ok but their keeper was nearby and just told people to avoid them (which is hard when they're running along the pathway).

~Thylo

 

I think 'breeding' is the keyword here. If they were breeding(or preparing to) they were no doubt defending a territory. Better if the zoo cordoned off the area temporarily perhaps.

 

The four zoos I have been to that exhibit parrots like this are Henry Vilas, Brookfield, Columbus, and Grant's Farm. Henry Vilas and Brookfield both have flightless macaws in free-flight aviaries, but restricted to just their sticks. The worst ones I saw were at Grant's Farm, where several species of macaws and cockatoos were stuck on sticks, by them themselves, with no toys or climbing opportunities on various branches scattered throughout the grounds.

 

This photo shows almost the entire space available to this Hyacinth Macaw at Grant's Farm. The food and water dishes are just out of frame:

 

I believe that the aviary dome at the Queens Zoo though housing North American bids has macaws of different species that are allowed to free-flight.

 

Breeding macaws are a whole different ball game!

 

I have seen pictures of flight restricted macaws in planted exhibits, where the wing clipping was to facilitate keeping them away from the plants (not that that justifies it, IMHO). Tbf you CAN keep parrots in planted aviaries, but it takes a lot of work.

 

You seem to change the topic that every former pet parrot cannot live a more interesting life than sit on a stick, which is completely false. The argument that they are taken behind the scenes after opening hours looks invalid - they may be simply put in another empty cage or a stick. Behind the scenes accommodation of demonstration animals in the U.S. zoos is usually very bare.

One point not yet raised is a wrong educational message. Parrot on a stick sends a wrong message that an animal can be a kind of a living decorative furniture. And gives totally wrong impression of parrot life - in the wild they are highly social, far-ranging, noisy animals, changing between hiding in tree crowns - despite their bright colors - and fast flying on the sky.

 

There's Foster Parrots/New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary in RI, Central Virginia Parrot Sanctuary in VA, Feathered Friends Forever in Georgia, Uncle Sandy's Macaw Bird Park in FL, Midwest Avian Adoption and Rescue Services in MN.

Places that claim to be non-profit and have parrots in addition to mammals, etc: Noah's Ark in GA, Popcorn Park in NJ, Luray Zoo in VA, Three Ring Ranch in HI, Black Pine Animal Sanctuary in IN. I don't really note parrots in places unless they're odd species, so I'm sure there's plenty more of these.

 

Species list for the place in RI?

~Thylo

 

Their website only mentions a couple but says they have several hundred birds, probably better to look through their social media. They do tours by appointment, and have a big event in September.
https://www.fosterparrots.com/
Facebook
Youtube

 

That is not what I said. You are ignoring the part where I said that these sticks are not these parrots’ entire lives for the most part. Simply saying that the behind the scenes accommodations are usually bare without proof is a generalization and not genuine to actual reality of what these animal’s lives are like. They might not even be the only place they go on exhibit. I think many people are missing my main point which is that there are a lot of generalizations happening in this thread. Every bird is different and needs different accommodations. Every zoo is different and may have more or less opportunities for their individual birds. All I’m saying is don’t get your pitchforks and torches out and get angry about something that may actually be reasonable. Again, nobody in this thread has asked any of the zoos in question about these birds, if they are clipped, pinioned, if they are injured, or if they get other spaces to explore in addition to the “stick”.

This forum tends to become an echo chamber for people to complain yet I rarely see anyone actually try and get real answers. Zoo employees are people! They are open to criticism (if warranted) and change practices based on the current welfare standards. Ask and you generally will get a genuine answer from most places.

 

While I agree with the overall sentiment of your post, surely there's a reason why this practice is virtually absent from the entirety of Europe yet still very much common in the United States and it surely isn't as simple as the US has just that many more problem/rescued birds.

Does Cheyenne Mountain exhibit any parrots in this manner? What are their accommodations on and off-show like?

~Thylo