plax
01-04-2016, 05:32 PM
Originally posted on July 3, 2015
I care about companion bird safety. I'm saddened and appalled by the "everyone should do as they like" carefree attitude boasted by folks who support allowing companion birds and larger predatory pets (cats/dogs) to physically intermingle. Many pet birds have unnecessarily lost their lives due to care provider decisions involving staged species-to-species physical contact scenarios, often for the purpose of creating sharable videos and still images. It's not only that I feel those who post such media items are placing human social benefit above the safety of their pets; it's also that media items showing "adorable" scenarios between predator and prey animals tend to inspire other pet owners to stage duplicate or similar dangerous activities with their own pets. People see such content and are encouraged to create their own similar content. And I'm convinced that's the most harmful element about the entire phenomenon.
The trend of showing dissimilar animal species physically interacting together is driven by the simple fact that people typically love to see cute and fantastic interactions between animals that are unnatural companions. But a lot of folks don't consider the aforementioned fact that one instance of such posted media content is likely to inspire multiple copycat instances. That is, it places more animals at risk exponentially. It's a perpetual phenomenon that results in a lot of dead and seriously injured small animals along the way.
Why do so many humans disregard this genuine and serious risk? And why do many of them vilify those who offer heartfelt warnings and relevant facts? Even when such warnings are courteous, many proponents of allowing physical contact between predator and prey pets will respond in a hostile manner. A common response is: "I know my pets very well and they would NEVER harm one another... mind your own damn business!" It's a sad fact, though, that many who have responded exactly in that manner have thereafter lost their bird or other small animal due to a preventable pet attack. And that is so very tragic. Those deceased pets certainly deserved a measure of safety in their lives.
There is a certain human personality type which tends to present with an individual believing that he or she has more control of external situations than is actually the case, or than is even possible. I think this explains why those folks mentioned above behave as they do. They tend not to consider history or statistics. Instead, they are committed to their ideals. Unfortunately, such ideals are often contrary to reality. And that would all be fine if it did not impose danger upon the innocent - as it often does :(
My words above address an important topic. At the very least, I think it deserves a reminder now and then.
I care about companion bird safety. I'm saddened and appalled by the "everyone should do as they like" carefree attitude boasted by folks who support allowing companion birds and larger predatory pets (cats/dogs) to physically intermingle. Many pet birds have unnecessarily lost their lives due to care provider decisions involving staged species-to-species physical contact scenarios, often for the purpose of creating sharable videos and still images. It's not only that I feel those who post such media items are placing human social benefit above the safety of their pets; it's also that media items showing "adorable" scenarios between predator and prey animals tend to inspire other pet owners to stage duplicate or similar dangerous activities with their own pets. People see such content and are encouraged to create their own similar content. And I'm convinced that's the most harmful element about the entire phenomenon.
The trend of showing dissimilar animal species physically interacting together is driven by the simple fact that people typically love to see cute and fantastic interactions between animals that are unnatural companions. But a lot of folks don't consider the aforementioned fact that one instance of such posted media content is likely to inspire multiple copycat instances. That is, it places more animals at risk exponentially. It's a perpetual phenomenon that results in a lot of dead and seriously injured small animals along the way.
Why do so many humans disregard this genuine and serious risk? And why do many of them vilify those who offer heartfelt warnings and relevant facts? Even when such warnings are courteous, many proponents of allowing physical contact between predator and prey pets will respond in a hostile manner. A common response is: "I know my pets very well and they would NEVER harm one another... mind your own damn business!" It's a sad fact, though, that many who have responded exactly in that manner have thereafter lost their bird or other small animal due to a preventable pet attack. And that is so very tragic. Those deceased pets certainly deserved a measure of safety in their lives.
There is a certain human personality type which tends to present with an individual believing that he or she has more control of external situations than is actually the case, or than is even possible. I think this explains why those folks mentioned above behave as they do. They tend not to consider history or statistics. Instead, they are committed to their ideals. Unfortunately, such ideals are often contrary to reality. And that would all be fine if it did not impose danger upon the innocent - as it often does :(
My words above address an important topic. At the very least, I think it deserves a reminder now and then.