by notscaredtodance » Tue May 11, 2010 3:16 pm
In houses with dogs and cats, wings should left unclipped. How many horror stories do we hear about birds sitting on/near their cage, or even on/near an owner, a dog getting rowdy, and a bird dying because it flapped and the dog thought it was a chew toy? And flying would have been able to save it.
But if there are no other animals, as long as the bird has a way to get to a few different places and isn't limited to a cage in the middle of the room, stranded on an island basically, I defnitely think clipped is safer.
I also think that my bird's bond with me is a result of her being clipped. I can only imagine the drama at the petstore if I had let her out of her cage and she just took off up into the rafters. Even if it was forced at first to have her sit on my shoulder if she wanted to be out of her cage, its not forced now, as she can walk from me to her cage and back if she wants, but chooses to stay on me. So yes, bonding is easier at first. I think once the bird is bonded letting wings grow out is fine.
It really is an owner preference, some people say its unnatural for a bird to be clipped. I say it's unnatural to trick train a bird. To have it in a cage. To feed it processed pellets. There is so much unnatural about keeping pets in the first place, that calling clipping unnatural isn't a valid argument.
I think clipping is beneficial for safety to keep birds out of trouble, off of curtain rods/shelves with trinkets/wires. I think clipping makes bonding with a new bird much easier.
Most of my arguments aren't why clipping is BETTER than flighted, but why it isn't worse. (Birds fly 20 miles in the wild. They don't get that much exercise in a house flying back and forth a few times. I doubt it's much of a health benefit. The bird is more stimulated, but frankly, if a bird is so bored that it flies for fun, you need to invest in some better foraging toys.