I'm worried about a family members conure

[FelixFox]

Hello, I'm not a conure owner, but one of my extended family members has one. As far as I'm aware, he's about 8 years old and is kept in a cage all the time. It's lost a lot of feathers, it's chest and top of its wings are basically bald.

They keep the conure in a room upstairs and no one spends any time with it. It never leaves the cage at all, and it's tail feathers are all matted from where they drag across the bars of the cage.

It does have a few toys, a bell that it likes to ring and a sleep sack that hangs from the top of the cage.

We're visiting for two days and as soon as I got here I changed the stagnant, dirty water that was in the cage and took the blanket that was covering the cage off.

This family member moved house about four years ago and the conure has been in the bedroom upstairs away from everyone all that time and I don't believe has left its cage in that time.

Knowing that it's probably lonely and depressed makes me cry so much and I wish I could take it home with us. I don't know how to approach this with my family member, as they aren't a direct relation to me and the bird belongs to my in law.

Any advice on how I can approach this would be great. We live about 100 miles away and only visit twice a year.

Thank you.

 

[onamom]

Oh how awful. I can’t stand seeing an animal in neglect and I feel your pain. That poor bird. Would you be willing or able to care for him if they’d let you have him? Or willing to help him find a new home at least? It’s a tough subject to bring up no matter how you do it… maybe you could start by asking them some questions about the bird…. How long have you had him, how old is he, etc. You could even ask if they enjoy owning a parrot and if they give you an opening offer to help.

 

[Free as a bird]

Oh that's terrible to read about.
I don't know what to say to help in such a difficult situation

 

[FelixFox]

Oh how awful. I can’t stand seeing an animal in neglect and I feel your pain. That poor bird. Would you be willing or able to care for him if they’d let you have him? Or willing to help him find a new home at least? It’s a tough subject to bring up no matter how you do it… maybe you could start by asking them some questions about the bird…. How long have you had him, how old is he, etc. You could even ask if they enjoy owning a parrot and if they give you an opening offer to help.

I'd love to take him on, however we have indoor cats and I'd hate for the bird to end up tormented by them. My in law did used to have a cat too though, so the bird is used to cats! Asking if they enjoy owning a parrot is a good idea, I'll see if I can broach the subject today.

My In Law says that the reason the bird has lost its feathers is due to its wings rubbing on the top of its sleep sack, but I just don't think that's the case.

I'll see how I get on today with the conversation, and I may even see what my sister in law thinks to see if she can speak to her parent about it.

Thank you!