This coming Monday, March 10, 2025, is International Parrot Crisis Awareness Day. On this day, people all over the world will be sharing common graphics and messages about the need to stop the trade in parrots. One slogan of this campaign sponsored by the International Alliance for the Protection of Parrots is “No Cage is Big Enough,” meaning that we cannot reproduce in captive situations the ecosystem that parrots evolved to fly over.
I often speak to people about this need to diminish the parrot trade, for it hurts individual parrots, wild parrot populations, parrots in captive situations, and the people who live with and care for parrots. There is much suffering as described during the Parrot Crisis Summit in October, 2024. I believe that connecting with other humans over the reality of harm can help unite those who love and appreciate parrots, no matter their world view, culture, and ethical stance. World views and ethical approaches vary greatly, and it is difficult for anyone to express a consistent ethical stance for themselves, let alone for one that crosses experiences and cultures, but we can all note the harm that is caused and how different the cage environment is from a free flying parrot’s natural environment.
We begin with harm to unite us, but it does not end there. We must continue to share, learn, and grow our awareness together. This amounts to each of us increasing our multispecies intelligence, which can be done by many different approaches. One approach that comes close to capturing not only my cognitive stance on the need to refrain from keeping parrots as pets but also comes from my heart is Martha Nusbaum’s theory of capabilities. It might also resonate with you and help you connect your heart and mind with others, which is why I share it with you the week before International Parrot Crisis Awareness Day.
Thinking like philosopher Nussbaum, one might say in regard to parrots that birds should be able to do all the activities that they are capable of, and that they should be able to choose these activities. To do so is the good life for them, which means they can express to the greatest extent their evolved bio-cultural location. For a macaw this would mean flying tens of kilometers in a day, foraging and flying with a community of conspecifics (individuals of the same species) and heterospecifics (individuals of other species), fulfilling relationships within a multigenerational flock and immediate family members and partners, and exploring and consuming tens of species of food items. To understand the capability of a parrot is to recognize their dignity.
After working for four decades with parrots I see that, at a deep level, when people put them in a cage they do not appreciate the capabilities that these birds evolved to utilize. It seems disrespectful and does not allow them to live in way that lets us see their dignity. In general, birds in cages are offensive to me.
Promoting avian welfare then can be seen to include awareness and curiosity about the capabilities of parrots. To see them as they evolved to be (their capabilities) lightens our own way in the world as we recognize beauty, worthiness, dignity, and harm. We then become a beacon for others as we share the light of our experiences and the experiences of parrots. But it does not end there. To be aware of dignity places upon us a duty and humility. This duty is to act like we know that they count and have inherent worth and dignity. The humility comes from knowing that we count too, but no more than others.
I imagine having this conversation with my friends and colleagues who promote parrots as pets, and what they might say to me. “Well, my human capability evolved to manipulate animals so that they keep me company and add beauty, entertainment, income, and status to my daily life. Would you deny me my full flourishing to live out my capabilities to be in relationship with animals in captivity?”
My response to them, and indeed, to myself is that there is a natural tension between human capabilities and those of others. Tension and harm are inherent in life. We are all inconsistent and conflicted; we want to care for others and we want the best for ourselves and others.
I enjoy being surrounded by parrots. Since the age of five, I have had parrots in my home. Now though I am just with them when working in conservation projects in their natural ranges, for I cannot abide them being in cages. So instead I must carry my love for them in my heart wherever I go, for I have seen their beauty, dignity, and worth, and knowing of the harm I and others have caused, must leave them, as much as possible, to live out their lives with as little interference from me as possible. Their dignity demands no less from me, as does mine.
I believe that human capabilities for awareness and caring have yet to reach their full potential. We get closer by participating in International Parrot Crisis Awareness Day. Please join us. You can find out more and download campaign materials here. Please share these materials widely on March 10. Thank you.
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