As well as the
typically ‘parrot’ ability to mimic and thus ‘talk back’ to its owner, the
budgerigar is a hardy, cheerful, alert little bird with a great talent for
acrobatics. It can master a series of tricks, many of which it discovers for
its own amusement, as well as being able to reproduce itself in quantity under
captive conditions. Budgerigars usually live to around eight years old. Instances of ten- or even twelve year old
budgies are however by no means rare. It
is fair, however, to point out that the average lifespan of a pet budgie is
below this.
Many pets are quite literally killed with kindness, through being fed unsuitable tidbits, or, worse still, being allowed to wander at will tasting everything on their master’s meal tables. This habit is obviously as unhygienic for the owner as it is unhealthy for the bird.
Other pet budgies are
accidentally crushed or squashed while at liberty round the house and many
escapes through windows or doors which their owners have forgotten to secure
before the pet was released. In this context, owners often express great
surprise that a bird which was trustworthy all its life, suddenly takes up a
previously-overlooked opportunity to escape. It is never safe to leave a cage
bird loose in room with the windows and doors open. Nor it is kind.
Although a number of
lost budgerigars are recovered, and some find their way back to their owners,
usually as a result of being able to speak their owner’s names and addresses,
or through the numerically coded budgerigar Society rings they wear, the
majority of escapees die miserable deaths from hunger, exposure or being
attacked by native wild birds.
Share this on your favourite network
0 comments:
Post a Comment