media vs. common sense

I was doing chores this morning, and normally the birds and I listen to the radio.... but this morning we decided to watch Rio. I just got a new tv for the aviary for this very purpose.

I laid in my hammock with the amazons, and I watched Rio for a while.

Rio is a cute movie... The plight of the Spix Macaw breaks my heart though.

In the beginning I found my self irritated by a few things...

1. Breakfast Cereal is a BAD idea for any bird.
2. We don't give birds vitamins (a balanced diet is more than sufficient)

3.. and this one tweaks me a lot... birds can't have chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa.

Now while we will all say what I said "it's just a cartoon", but the question remains... how many parakeet, conure, parrotlet, and bird owning children will try this very thing at home?

Do you think people will have the common sense not to copy cartoons? Does the media have any responsibility to at least ensure they don't portray an animal eating something that can kill it?

We live in a society that has to tell people to remove the plastic from infant matresses, is it necessary to make sure the less intelligent people don't feed their bird chocolate? Do you think people will have the common sense not to try this at home?

(On a side note... why did they give the parrots only 3 toes?)

Cute movie but I thought the same thing, and I just couldn't get over the 3 toe thing either! I probably made about fifty comments about their toes being wrong throughout the course of the movie lol. Drove me crazy!

My other pet peve was the Swainson Toucan being the wife of the Toco Toucan...lol! But again it's just a cartoon.

Of course someone needs to start an animal consulting company for Hollywood....

There was an episode of a tv show that was supposed to be taking place in Africa... in "Africa" there was a snake from South America, a vulture from North America, and a tortoise from the Galapagos Islands...

While I really liked the movie Rio, I too was annoyed at the cocoa/chocolate chip feeding. Maybe the three toes thing is for the same reason they often give people only four fingers instead of five lol.

A local bird rescue posted a news clip of a 6 foot "python" that was found on the side of the road, conveniently by their local vet. Too bad it was a boa and not a python...

Thankfully, most parrots come with a high enough price tag that many will not buy one simply because their kids saw a movie and now must have their own rio, and if they do decide to get one, I would hope they do their research. It's pretty readily available knowledge that chocolate is toxic and from what I have seen, it is on almost every bird website and in all of the parrot books I have read. I liked the way they ended Rio though, giving the message that they aren't meant to be kept in cages and should be free and respected They still should have given them 4 toes....

I wasn't yet a bird owner beyond parakeets (who refuse anything but seed) when I saw Rio, so now I feel I should watch it again to see how I feel about it. We did all really like it-- in particular the evil Nigel played by Jemaine Clemens from Flight of the Concords, natch.

It's cute, but I definitely did notice the same issues in the movie.
As soon as we saw the hot chocolate scene, my boyfriend said "He can't eat that!"

Also, I used to be able to take my parrot for walks in relative peace.
Now, every time I go to a park, I swear that every child runs over to see her.
I DEFINITELY think that it is because of this new movie.

I wonder how many parrots will be bought from pet stores for whining children who will neglect and malnourish them.

In short, I definitely see the problem with the media in regards to the care of animals.