Sad to say it--and the rest of its large flock--are indeed wingclipped and live on Omaha's version of the "parrot on a stick" technique still unfortunately practiced by many zoos in the US. Only here if they happen to lose their balance there are some very big gaping mouths below.
I really do feel that enclosures like this may as well have animatronic robots. What is the point of having animals that cannot express their natural behaviour at all, mearely as props against a 'natural' rainforest background?
Of course all animals are limited in some way by being being in captivity but I feel we have a moral imperative as custodians to ensure that they can live as natural a life as possible with the maximum opportunities and choices for bahaviour and activity.
I might not have a problem with flight-restricted parrots if they had plenty of behavioural enrichment, but this one appears to have nothing to amuse it, apart from not falling in the water & drowning/being eaten.
I might not have a problem with flight-restricted parrots if they had plenty of behavioural enrichment, but this one appears to have nothing to amuse it, apart from not falling in the water & drowning/being eaten.
Yes, there are 7 or 8 other connected "palm stumps," some taller than this, but shared by 7 or 8 other macaws. It really is rather pathetic, if surficially spectacular.
