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Well, I know of quite a few people, some of whom post to the mytoos.com board and other boards who have issues with biting, plucking, etc. who do not abuse or neglect their cockatoos. Read some of the posts by "hellobaby" on any number of bird boards. She is a committed cockatoo owner, but she has been bitten badly on several occasions (the 'too is bonded to her husband and sees her as a threat even though she is its primary caretaker). I'm sorry too, but I don't believe your 99% statistic is accurate. I do think you have a point about plucking coming from neglect more often than people are willing to admit, and I do think that 'toos are abused more than other birds because of the noise level. But the fact of the matter is that "neglect" in the case of an M2 is life in pretty much any normal human household. Those birds can be kept and managed properly by maybe 10% of the bird-owning population.
I think people in rescues see the worst cases, no doubt. But read parrot forums if you want to know how it's going with the people who haven't given their birds up (and won't) in spite of some tough challenges. Those people are struggling on a day-to-day basis to provide a home for their very high-maintenance birds and deserve some respect for their efforts.
Well, I know of quite a few people, some of whom post to the mytoos.com board and other boards who have issues with biting, plucking, etc. who do not abuse or neglect their cockatoos. Read some of the posts by "hellobaby" on any number of bird boards. She is a committed cockatoo owner, but she has been bitten badly on several occasions (the 'too is bonded to her husband and sees her as a threat even though she is its primary caretaker). I'm sorry too, but I don't believe your 99% statistic is accurate. I do think you have a point about plucking coming from neglect more often than people are willing to admit, and I do think that 'toos are abused more than other birds because of the noise level. But the fact of the matter is that "neglect" in the case of an M2 is life in pretty much any normal human household. Those birds can be kept and managed properly by maybe 10% of the bird-owning population.
I think people in rescues see the worst cases, no doubt. But read parrot forums if you want to know how it's going with the people who haven't given their birds up (and won't) in spite of some tough challenges. Those people are struggling on a day-to-day basis to provide a home for their very high-maintenance birds and deserve some respect for their efforts.
