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Can a Macaw Find Happiness in a Mobile Home? |
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Reviewed: The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog By Nancy Ellis-Bell (Harmony Books, an imprint of Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, New York, NY, 2008, 245 pp, ISBN: 978-0-307-40594-4, U.S. $23.00 h/c, Cdn $24.95) This
book tells the story of the author's life with an adopted, one-legged blue and
gold macaw that she took in from an exotic bird rescue. Succinctly put, it meets
the four "e's": it's entertaining, enlightening, educational and
encouraging It's entertaining, because anyone who has shared their life with a parrot - and even those who haven't - will chuckle quite a bit at some of the situations Ellis-Bell describes as she, her husband and her other pets try to adjust to having a very large, very independent-minded creature sharing the cramped quarters of their mobile home on an acreage in Northern California. It's enlightening, because it lets other parrot people know that like themselves, she too can have myriads of problems living with an intelligent creature, even though she's a published author and writer, a sort of "parrot celebrity." It's educational from the standpoint that we can learn from some of her mistakes, learn not to repeat them and end up in some of the situations in which she ends up. It's encouraging in that the author shows she has learned and chooses not to repeat mistakes in living with these incredibly complex and (sometimes) incredibly difficult-to-fathom creatures. While I try not to be too critical of people who love animals as much as Ellis-Bell does, there were times I cringed when she described some of the situations and how she handled them. The one that really rubbed me the wrong way was the author's decision to let the bird fly free, in the outdoors. This topic is one that is always hotly-debated in companion parrot circles. While I do not clip my own birds' wings (we live in a large, high-ceilinged house that allows them to fly around the room from perch-to-perch for exercise) I also do not take them outdoors without some kind of restraint, either in the form of a parrot-leash (yes, there are such things and these harnesses are very humane) or a carrying cage. To do so is to court disaster. That's particularly the case if you have no training or experience in falconry or avian flight training, which the author did not. While I would advise most people not to fly their birds outside (or even to let them ride around on their arms or shoulders, with clipped or unclipped wings), I tend to make an exception for people who are animal trainers and know exactly what to do to train a bird to return on command. Even then, there is always the potential for losing the bird. I understand the author's feelings about wanting the bird to fly free; however, we are talking about a creature used to living in a completely different wild environment, with a flock to help deal with issues that arise, a creature who can learn from parents and flock members where to find food, shelter, etc. That is not the case with a companion exotic bird. As caretakers of these creatures, it is our responsibility to ensure their safety and enrich their lives as much as is possible without creating undue risks that they are not equipped to deal with. Those risks can be found both inside and out-of-doors. I don't subscribe to the argument, "Well, better a week of freedom than a lifetime of not being able to fly outside." As Antoine d'Saint Euxpury said so well, "Remember ... if you tame me ... you become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed ..." Part of that responsibility involves ensuring the bird's happiness and health. All that being said, I would still recommend this book for any parrot lover, or for that matter, any animal lover. Ellis-Bell has shown great courage, not only in taking a difficult animal into her life, but also in sharing all her experiences publicly - both good and bad - by writing them in her book, without leaving out negative aspects of her experiences or candy-coating the story. She is human, and humans make mistakes. She was brave enough to authentically share hers with the world. She should be applauded for that, as well as for her incredible love for all creatures. - Reviewed by John Geary |
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General Information About African Greys Fiction Non-Fiction
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