When talking about "Max", the M2, there is a backstory that not a lot of people know, and so you can't know what Dan has gone through or why, or what he was willing to give-up for Max...That situation is the best example of a selfless person who loves a bird that he never ever wanted or had any thought of bringing home...
Quickly as I can tell the story of Mr. Max: Dan had a friend who decided he wanted a Cockatoo back around 2006 I believe; he had no bird experience at all. He got on Craigslist and found Max, the M2, up in Maine, who was I believe 3 years old, and who's original owner was an elderly man who had gotten Max as a little baby, and who had passed-away suddenly. So Max was taken and cared for by a relative until they could re-home him...So this friend of Dan's, who had no bird experience at all, drove from Pennsylvania to Maine and adopted Max; however, he did this only 2 weeks before he was leaving to go to North Carolina for 6 months to work a construction job. So he had Max for 2 weeks, no bonding occurred at all obviously, and then he asked Dan if he would be willing to watch Max for the 6 months he was gone. Dan said yes, and he moved Max into his house...
Unlike his friend, Dan did tons and tons of research, went and spoke to Avian Vets, etc. He changed Max's diet, bought him a new huge cage, and basically over the 6 months he and Max bonded very closely, and Max was happier than he'd ever been...Well then Dan's friend came back home after 6 months and immediately came and picked Max up, not having any idea about Cockatoos and how they bond to people...Dan was crushed, but it was his friend's bird...Well it ended up that Dan had to go to his friend's house every single day, for hours each day, just to calm Max down, as he was screaming 24/7, wouldn't sleep, wouldn't eat, couldn't be handled by the friend, and was only non-neurotic and just out of his mind when Dan was there...So what does this friend do after a couple of weeks? He puts Max up for sale on Craigslist...that's what kind of person this guy is...So Dan begs him to just give Max to him since Max was bonded with him, he said no, and Dan ended up paying his friend a ton of money and giving him a bunch of possessions for Max...And when Dan got Max back, his huge, steel cage was completely dented and broken from this guy throwing things at it and beating it with things while Max was inside of it, because Max wouldn't stop crying and screaming...So yes, Dan has definitely devoted his life to Max, and happily did.
Like I said, it's like having a perpetual 5 year-old to care for, and that's exactly what Dan has, but they love each other, and thank God for Dan, because otherwise Max would be just another Cockatoo lost in the world...
****HOWEVER, TO THE OP: You would be very wise to go onto YouTube and search for "Mr. Max the Cocktoo", go to his YouTube page, and start at the beginning...I think his owner, Dan, has done a couple of "Question and Answer" videos that are like 20-30 minutes long, and I highly suggest that you watch all of them, where Dan answers all of the questions written-in by viewers, because Dan answers them all extremely honestly, and you'll see how much of Dan's life is devoted to Max..which is pretty much all of it besides his 9-5 work days Monday-Friday, and Dan even comes home from work for lunch every day for an hour so that he can let Max out of his cage and eat lunch with him....other than work and the occasional concert with a friend where he has to have an experienced babysitter, Dan is with Max...He used to love to go to concerts all the time, and since adopting Max circa 2007, Dan has only gone out once or twice, where he had to have his parents come to his house to babysit Max for the few hours he was gone. He states he hasn't been on a vacation since he got Max, he hasn't gone out on even one date since he got Max, and he ended up selling a very nice lake-house that he lived in when he first got Max, and moved into an older house in the country, where Max has his own bedroom/playroom...BTW, that's the room that you see in the videos that is really messed-up, with the woodwork chewed and that always has stuff all over the place, that's Max's room...Yes, Max has his own room, with just as many toys, books, etc. as any young human child would have. If you walked into Dan's house, you would immediately think he had a young child. That's the level of commitment it takes to own a large Cockatoo...But, what you'll also notice immediately, is that Max is the most gorgeous, healthiest Moluccan Cockatoo you've ever seen in your life, not a bit of plucking ever, he's well-socialized, he eats all of his meals with Dan, they are a family, and that bird is probably the healthiest M2 you'll ever see, physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically...So I highly suggest you take a look at Max's channel, because you'll get a good idea of what these large Cockatoos are like, and more importantly what it takes to raise one and keep them happy and healthy...Also, Max became almost fatally ill once, he chewed on the electrical cord to a space heater for just a minute, and he ingested a tiny piece of the copper wire inside of the insulated cord...Dan had to take Max to 3 different Vets throughout central PA before he found an Avian Vet who knew how to properly do a Chelation Therapy, and even after that the wire hadn't broken down completely, and Max nearly died, and it seemed like Dan was trying to prepare himself for losing Max...It was terrible...Somehow, with the help of that third Avian Vet, Max pulled-through, but I can't even imagine the amount of money that Dan spent saving Max, we're talking thousands and thousands of dollars, and a good 3-4 months of his life...
And to anyone who thinks that Dan is "obsessed" or "overdoing it" with the way he cares for Max and the amount of his life he dedicates to Max, just ask yourself how many large Cockatoos you've seen that are pluckers, self-mutilators, who scream all day long, every day, who have horrible neurotic behavior, etc. For me, when I think about that, it's almost ALL of them (I work at an Avian Rescue, for 8 years now, and now that I think about it, I don't think we've EVER had an U2 or an M2 that was surrendered to the Rescue or that we have picked-up from somewhere else that wasn't at least plucked, usually they are much worse than just being plucked)...So the question that we need to ask ourselves when we think about how Dan cares for Max and how much of his life he gives to Max, which is pretty much all of it, should be "Is this what is required, or at least close to what is required to keep a large Cockatoo who is the only Cockatoo in the house, happy and healthy, and from developing psychological and behavioral issues?". I've heard many people say nasty, mean, hateful things about Dan and right to Dan's face about how attached he is to Max, and how much of his life he's given-up for Max...My first comment is always "Why do you care, it's not your life", but some people just have to be mean and say what they're thinking because they just do I guess...But these people are actually giving Dan a bunch of crap ] BECAUSE he takes excellent care of his Cockatoo! If Max was a young, human child that Dan adopted, then of course no one would say anything negative about the situation, and Dan would be "Father of the Year"...But because Dan did the research about large Cockatoos, because he understood going into the situation prior to adopting Max that these birds are very much perpetual 5 year-old's who live longer than most people do, and because Dan knew that he was going to have to sacrifice much of his time/life if he wanted to give Max a happy, healthy life, and because Dan decided that this was what he was not only what he was willing to do but also what he WANTED TO DO, people actually harass him and tell him that he needs to "cut the cord" and "get a girlfriend", etc...But on the flip-side of this discussion, the majority of large Cockatoo owners have birds with physical, psychological, and neurological issues because they ARE JUST LIKE 5 YEAR-OLD CHILDREN...
so there can be a second/third/etc. future there.
