The Gift of Giving
With the holiday season fast approaching, many people are wondering what the perfect “gift” could be to give to that special someone and unfortunately, many believe that a new pet may be just what the recipient needs.
The best gift you can give to an animal, is to NOT give it.
Impulse pet purchases are most common with holiday seasons as people look for that “perfect gift” for the person who already has everything. They believe a new pet will bring joy to the person they are giving it to but fail to recognize the long term commitment they are now forcing onto this person.
These new additions to the family need to be planned out, budgeted, and brought home when the entire family is committed to the responsibility.
While a free pet may seem like a good idea, this is not a free pet – this is a pet that will come with costs in the way of housing/food/vet bills/toys and many unexpected expenses. A pet should never be given as a surprise gift – this is not fair to the recipient and most definitely is not fair to the animal.
Holiday seasons are busy and with the amount of activities going on, a new pet in the home could easily be overlooked. It is also incredibly stressful to an animal to put them into a chaotic environment with strangers. While some domestic pets handle this a bit better than others, exotic animals find it much more challenging. Dogs, cat, rabbits, parrots, ferrets etc anything deemed a pet, should not be given to an unsuspecting family.
Parrots are a huge commitment, with some lifespans up to 80 years, this is NOT a decision to be taken lightly as it truly is a LIFEtime commitment.
At Birdline, we see an increase of interest in adoptions during the Christmas season, and at least 1/2 of the inquiries are about giving the parrot as a gift for their 5/6/7 year old child as their ‘first’ pet and a great learning experience or wanting to gift it to a parent who recently lost one or had one in their youth.
While parrots can be simply amazing, they are NOT learning tools to teach responsible pet ownership to anyone.
The internet and libraries are great resources for information and education and many shelters across Canada have kids programs geared exactly to that – education of animals, animal care, responsibility and long term commitment.
Many shelters also offer gift certificates that people can purchase and give to the recipient – include with that the supplies needed for whatever pet you want to give and allow them to choose the right companion for THEIR lifestyle, not yours.
Parrots under the care of Birdline will not be impulse purchases – we have some in our organization that WERE given as an impulsive gift, only to be surrendered months later when the recipient realized the actual care involved and did not want or ask for it. You will see an increase in animal surrenders come Jan/Feb across Canada of those impulse pet purchases – truly heartbreaking!
Giving is about love, and love is about caring – that caring should extend from our families to all the feathered and furry creatures…
