Early attempt to get cockatoo used to water... he outsmarts me!

Benji's fear of water kept him from taking a shower. I tried to get him to play in the water in a small bowl, by putting his favorite toy in the bowl. Instead of going for it, he put out his foot as a request that I get it for him. Mission accomplished on his part! He's brilliant...

Thank you for watching Benjamin the Best Bird. Benji is a rescue bird, who sadly suffered in his first years on this earth, and pulled his feathers in an emotional response. He will never have the lush plumage of a non-stressed bird. Though he is now happy, healthy, and not plucking, he will forever carry with him the signs of earlier stress. Benji is an extraordinary bird who sadly must rely on humans for his entire existence because he would not survive on his own. That is not how a bird should live. Birds should be flying in the skies and living in the trees. But not all are lucky enough to be living that life. Instead they are existing in the lives that people have forced them into.

How could anyone abuse or neglect something this cute, you ask? Cockatoos are one of the most popular birds for human ownership, and also the breed most often to wind up at a rescue, or abandoned to solitary confinement in a basement, garage, or outbuilding. Life with them is rarely what people imagine it will be. They are a huge daily responsibility, live for over 60 years, destroy anything they can get their beak on, emit a dander that wreaks havoc to the lungs of any living creatures in the home, are known for being aggressive during breeding season, are "one-person" birds who don't always make life easy for anyone who is not “their person," they bite, are more than willing to speak their mind (sometimes endlessly), and last but not least, they are LOUD. The sheer volume of their voice is the #1 reason they are abandoned.

Any noise over 120 decibels can cause hearing damage and elicit physical pain in your ear. The decibel level of a cockatoo scream is 120-135db - on par with a military jet taking off (130db), in your home. The noise is unlike anything I have ever experienced before, and if I didn't live with Benji, I would say that I didn't care to ever hear it again. Seriously folks, it's horrible. But it's their sound. It's what nature gave them to be able to communicate with each other while living in treetops - not in people's homes.

Their scream can be anger-provoking, like being punched in the face with sound. (A great illustration in film of how people can be affected - watch, and replace the boy with a cockatoo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h-SLp1wdZM). Sadly, while anger is not the appropriate response to a screaming bird, it is the most frequent and common human response.

There are hundreds of thousands of these birds in rescues and sanctuaries all over the world, who were violently trapped, netted, grabbed... kidnapped from their homes, and forced to live with humans who later discarded them. There are more who were bred by people who think it's okay to do that. But it's not. Selling these birds to live in people's homes is like selling fish to live in sand. It's just not right. People acquire them because they are indeed adorable, but it is quickly learned that living with them is dramatically life altering and fraught with negatives. It is believed that more than 600,000 birds are given to rescues each year (or attempted to be given, but turned away due to a lack of vacancy). For those that remain owned but unwanted, parrot advocate Mira Tweti, estimates that 75% of these birds live a life of abuse or neglect. 75%. As a society, we should be massively ashamed of that.

We need to provide homes to the birds who are trapped in this life with humans because they have no alternative. Let's allow the rest to live in the wild where they're supposed to be. If you wish to jump into bird ownership, please educate yourself, and then go to a rescue and save a lonely bird who needs love and care, or buy from an owner who cannot, for whatever reason, care for the bird any longer. Don't judge them - just be proud of the fact that they realize they cannot provide the right care, and wish to find a new home for the bird, rather than just put it in isolation, the way so many do. We must get pet shops to stop selling these birds. And we must get breeders to stop breeding and selling them. These birds are not designed to live with humans, and when they do, it takes very dedicated, patient (and hard of hearing is a bonus!), people willing to do the work for decades. If you think you are up for it, please adopt a rescue bird. You will make a difference.