In my opinion, kids under the age of 15 should never be allowed to personally own a bird... Their family may have one and that is okay.. but to be honest I don't trust children with birds..
Another forum I am on has a recent commenter who is obviously 9 or 10 commenting ( very very bad grammar and obvious lack of knowledge on birds ) who is very interested on owning birds- yes, she wants several- and I feel really uneasy.
She has claimed to have lost 16- SIXTEEN- other pets some way or another... and is now set on one of the hardest animals to take care of.. She goes to school 9 hours a day and then dance from when she gets home to 8 o'clock at night she says.. and wants 2 cockatiels. She says she is afraid of the bites " but knows if she loves them enough they won't bite her anyways"...
I know nothing I can say will make her change her mind, and it would be rude to think so.. but I just fear so much for the bird she may obtain. She is getting them from petland ( woohoo..... ) and is going to always clip their wings. She can't afford a large cage, but somehow plans to have them out a lot even though she said she is never home..
SO this brings me to my point of discussion.. Should kids under the age of 15 have birds?
I do understand that some kids are very responsible... but in general. A kid with a very bird oriented mother or father is also a different story, I am just talking about the kid mostly taking care of the fid themselves.. Opinions???