Just so sad to see him sitting there...

We went to the East Rand traders square today which is a relatively big fleamarket in Boksburg close to Johannesburg. I saw a little petshop and decided to see what they have, keeping the birdies and fourleggeds in mind. As we walked in we saw an array of caged birds and they immediately got my attention. Assortment of finches, cockatiels, a few budgies etc. My son points to the floor asking mommy what's that thing? I looked down to see a tiny african grey parrot, only starting to get down feathers sitting bunched up in a corner of a shallow box on the floor with a few pine shavings in. I reached over to touch him or her, it gave me no response, just cuddling up trying to stay warm, it was quite cool today. My husband immediately asked me to find out how much they want for him, alas, I didn't have enough money to take the little one! I am so saddened by seeing the bird like that. Yes there could be a million comments as to how he may have been okay, contented, tired or whatever. Point is, outside this same shop is a teensy tiny birdie cage with two zebra finches inside, I think if they turn around they pretty much walked through the whole cage! Its just not right! : ( what if a child accidentally steps on this box???? If I had the cash I wldve bought every last bird in that store! I want to report this shop to management, but I was so upset I didn't get the stores name!

That's always a tough situation... did you try bartering with them over the price of the AG?

The sad part is that they if they're breeding, port innocent birds are being brought right into those conditions...

It just goes to show that to some, everything is just a dollar sign... while we love and care for our avian friends, to others its just a monetary object..

I wish I was close to you, i'd go buy him.

This guy could see we were upset, so afterwards he turned around and completely ignored the fact we were even there! If I wasn't such an honest person I wouldve picked that baby up right there and walked out!!! My heart breaks over things like these, and I'm so worried about that birdie, it may just be my imagination but the little one looked sick or something to me! Anyway even if its not, it has no place being in a petshop at that age! Shows this persons attitude immediately, sell them as soon as possible for as much as possible. All the birds in store are in budgie sized cages. Well I've taken the decision to contact the Boksburg SPCA and asking them how often they inspect pet stores and what the criteria is regarding cage size, condition animals for sale are kept in etc. And then informing them of what we saw, even if I don't have the shop nr there are only abt 3 or 4 petstores there, so they can easily inspect all of them.

Yeah there are bird breeders that are just like the terrible puppy mill type dog breeders... but i don't think its as widely known as it is for the dogs...


Perhaps that's something we should look into???? I know there are people who buy scarlets and never let them see daylight, and harvest their feathers for things... poor birds.

That's a good idea, contacting them about inspections... I would've done the same. I would actually go down there, see if it was the same as when you where there, and call and have someone come down... take pics.. make the guy really nervous.. have your husband with you..

That's a pretty good idea, I wonder where he keeps the poor babies during the week? I can even do it myself I'm not scared of him! (Raised between boys lol!) Its just weird to me that the fleamarket itself allows animals to be kept that way. According to me that baby still needs to be with its momma or at least an experienced handraiser. He's just trying to get rid of it so he doesn't have to go through the hassles of feeding it or else I don't know, he's just in it for the cash and not for a love of animals. Still waiting on SPCA to reply. This time of year they usually quite busy