Many Birds Are Not Kept Appropriately in Private Settings
Published: Wednesday, Aug 16th 2023, 09:40
Aktualisiert am: Freitag, 13. Oktober 2023, 14:12
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According to a study by the Swiss Animal Protection (STS), many birds are kept at home without natural sunlight, weather influences and in too small cages. An online calculator can help improve the situation of these pets. It is estimated that over 40,000 households in Switzerland keep birds, such as budgerigars, canaries or zebra finches. Two thirds of them live in traditional cages in the home, which are often too small for the birds to fly. Furthermore, the animals usually have no access to natural sunlight and are not exposed to natural weather conditions or stimuli. Another problem is the illegal single-keeping of parrot-like birds such as macaws or nymph parrots: around 20 percent of them have to live alone, which is cruel as these animals need same-species partners to avoid social deterioration. Mirrors are not a solution either, as it has been known for years that they can cause dangerous behavioral disorders. The STS therefore also calls on pet shops to remove this "problematic accessory" from their range. In order to offer birds a species-appropriate keeping, the organization has extended its animal keeping calculator on the Internet to the category of birds. There, information on the keeping of the 16 most common bird species is available. The recommendations go beyond the legal minimum requirements so that the birds can at least make a few wing beats in the aviary. 149 bird keepers took part in the online study. Each keeping was questioned ad hoc and the answers were then evaluated in detail.nnnnnnnnnn
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