General

What has the Royal Wedding Vows got to do with parrots I hear you ask, just bear with me and you will see. I thought given all the buzz around the Royal Wedding it was a topical thing to write about whilst trying to get a point across.

So as the title suggests in my opinion one of the most important part of a wedding is the vows, whether it be done in front of a few witnesses at a registration office or a large scale audience at Westminster Abbey the fact is we all have to say our vows in one form or the other, to make our bond a permanent one, and to show those that are witnesses that you are willing to sacrifice everything and anything to be there for the special person in your life, I won’t bore you with the whole vows as they vary so much according to religion, preference and whatever else, but the bit of the vows that sticks in most people’s minds is:

“To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish ’till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.“

So if you haven’t guessed where I’m heading with this already then it’s more obvious than you think, like my parrot tattoos post a few weeks back this is all about parrot ownership and just like in marriage where impulse weddings tend not to work and usually (but not in all cases) ends in divorce, parrot ownership is pretty much the same, if you don’t do your homework and prepare yourself for a lifetime commitment, remember, “Till Death Do Us Part” then you may find you have taken on more than you can handle, or certainly than you are prepared for.

This is why we setup the parrot rescue service to help those that may not be able to deal with the lifetime marriage after all, I’m not saying 100% of the rescues we take on-board are due to people being unprepared but there’s definitely a flavour of this we see quite regularly.

Our mission is actually not to have to rescue any parrots at all, after all this costs us money personally, what with travelling costs, vet bills, ongoing food bills, cages/toys and whatever else, for which we rely totally on donation to fund, this is a big part of the reason we put this site together, we wanted to create a resource to help people understand all the things that they need to know in order to be a parrot owner, I truely believe we have helped many people and hope to keep growing to the point where we are a household name for anyone that is thinking of parrot ownership and help many more, ultimately more happy parrot owners = more happy parrots that can’t be a bad thing, we thank all those who have and continue to contribute to helping us realise that dream.

So in summary, before taking on a parrot, like our dear Royals Kate and Wills think of those vows and make sure you really are prepared for a lifetime commitment no matter what happens, and overall you will be glad to be a parrot owner, just as we hope our two most recent Royals will be forever unlike some of those that preceded them.

While I was raking through the keywords in our analytics this morning looking for inspirational ideas to write about I came across a phrase that was a bit of a “lightbulb” moment and the phrase was “parrot tattoos“.

So you may be thinking at this point am I completely bonkers and apart from parrots what the hell does this site really have to do with tattoos, and in a way you may be right but indirectly I wanted to make a point about tattoos that is actually closely related to African grey parrots, whilst also giving me the chance to show you some amazing works of art that some people have put on their bodies.

Both myself and Paula have tattoos, I have three (and want more at some point) and Paula has three as well, and for me I know the decision to have a tattoo didn’t come lightly, I pondered for years before I went ahead and got my first one, and why I hear you ask, was I worried that it would hurt? NO … did I think it would cost too much? NO … did I think it would look stupid? NO … did I realise it was a lifetime commitment? YES!! and there be the link with African Greys!

If you are thinking about taking on an African Grey the questions you need to ask yourself are:

1. Are you worried it may hurt when it bites you or one of your family, just like humans, Greys have off days and don’t want your fingers waved in their face, that’s the reality of it?
2. Are you worried about the cost of providing cages, food, toys, vet bills and all the other associated costs of keeping a parrot?
3. Are you worried about going on holiday and having to sort out care, after all African Greys require special care and can’t just go anywhere or just be left on their own?

If you answered NO to all of these questions, great you’re almost there, but did you realise that given the right conditions and diet, your African Grey could quite easily outlive you, therefore the old adage a dog, or parrot in this case, is not just for Christmas it’s a LIFETIME COMMITMENT!!

And whilst I leave you with that thought lets end on a lighter note with those amazing African Grey Parrot tattoos I found when I trawled the t’internet, these really are lifetime commitments … enjoy!!!

Oh and anyone thinking of getting the AGPC logo tattooed onto them do let us know