More Important to me Than Anything

Written by Gina Seraichyk
United States

“Parront” is slang for parrot parent.

My parronthood is perhaps more important to me than anything. I have cared for many types of animals, and adored them all. However, there’s just something about a parrot.

In 1993, my then boyfriend brought home a cockatiel we named Tweety. Tweety’s behavior was so interesting and mysterious, like a magical little fluffy dinosaur alien. He sang, flew, and even managed to say some things that sounded an awful lot like English words, such as, “little tweety bird”. Soon after, we got him a girlfriend, whom we named Girlbird. (I now know it’s wrong to purchase animals).

Cockatiels cannot be spayed or neutered, which makes family planning tricky. Many cockatiels later, I learned how to gently curb their reproduction. I now live with seven cockatiels, some of whom are rescues (cages are all open). Tweety is now 22. I’ll always keep rescued cockatiels. I cannot imagine a life without their sweet fluffiness.

Meanwhile… in 1996, I adopted a Lesser Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo. I immediately fell in love. He was five and sweet, but as parrots mature, they become more difficult. As it turns out… cockatoos scream, bite, chew anything they can get their beaks on, and require an unimaginable amount of attention. Parrots are not domesticated. They aren’t meant to live in cages, alone and bored. In the wild, a bird like Mr. Peepers, my cockatoo, would spend the day with his flock, foraging, socializing, preening, and playing. Capturing these highly intelligent animals to stick in a lonely cage, is profoundly cruel. It’s my responsibility to make Mr. Peepers happy. Every morning I’m awoken with a delightful, “hi baby!” I cannot even remember my life pre-cockatoo.

While it may not seem that my parronthood and veganism are related, they are actually poignantly connected. In 2008 I read a book called Of Parrots and People by Mira Tweti which discusses keeping parrots as pets, and why it’s wrong. That book may have been the beginning of expanding my consciousness in a very vegan direction, as its message is certainly a vegan one. As I read her words of respect, love, and freedom for parrots, I knew what I was reading to be true… they are not ours. The message of veganism is the same: respect, love, and freedom for all the nonhuman animals whether in a slaughterhouse, marine park, laboratory, or pet store.

They are not ours.

Special thanks to Butterflies Katz for including this in her compelling essay collection highlighting diversity amongst vegans:
I’M A VEGAN: One Movement, Many Voices.

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