A Plea for a Prisoner

Humans have always loved to direct everything, be it cities, people, nature or animals.

One day, humans felt the need for companionship other than that of their fellow men. They therefore decided to adopt animals. Family pets were born. But humans... being who they are, naturally had to impose THEIR own way of being and living. Yep! This is how humans are: they thirst for power and domination. It was inconceivable for them to only "tame" animals while letting them be... themselves. They had to control them, dominate them and most importantly, take away what is essential to every being... freedom.

The parrot unfortunately could not escape this desire for conquest. A victim of his great beauty, humans had to have as a decoration in their homes the freest animal of the creation: the bird.

When humans caught the bird, the most "humanistic" thing they found to do was to put him in a cage. the BIRD, that in his habitat had always enjoyed flying in territory miles long, would now be forced into perpetual idleness; humans would impose on him a mode of operation that in many ways was contrary to his preservation instincts. To survive in the world of humans, he would need to betray his own nature and his most natural mode of communication. All that is essential for the bird to survive free in the wild is denied in the world of humans.

Then, came a time when humans wanted to make the bird THEIR OWN creature. He had to speak like humans, eat like humans at times chosen by humans, he had to occupy himself with human toys; in short, he had to become similar to humans.

The bird has no rights in the world of humans. He can never protest or complain about his condition. He has to be ready to play and entertain humans whenever humans want... The parrot who conceives some pretension to a little attention must too often suppress his desires or risk suffering the consequences. The bird has no right to be claimed in the world of humans; he must wait for the goodwill of their MASTER.

But parrots are recalcitrant prisoners. They are rebels and they remember too well the days of freedom. They develop in captivity behaviors that were previously unknown to their ancestors: feather picking, obesity, aggression, stereotypical behaviors, cannibalism and other aberrant behaviors.

Boredom and idleness are the worst enemies of the parrot that is tagged as "domesticated!" What can HE do to fill his days, the animal that was so active in nature? Living with humans, there is nothing to do... Nothing!

So, HE observes. The whole "blessed" day, HE observes and waits. His life as a companion parrot is structured in the same rhythm as that of a prison: rhythms of getting up, eating, sleeping... HE watches and waits for his MASTER. HE is waiting for him to deign grant him a small hour of attention in a day. But what should HE do the other 23 hours???

Please, I beg of you, humans who now read these lines, be kind to your parrot. No sentence is crueler than life imprisonment for HE who has committed no crime... HE who is innocent!

© Johanne Vaillancourt 1997 (French) - 2011 (English)

Photos
Psittacus erithacus timneh,Olivier Wecxsteen
Amazona ochrocephala ochrocephala, Olivier Wecxsteen
Psittacus erithacus erithacus, Olivier Wecxsteen