Reasons not to clip

BECAUSE of Covid we’ve found ourselves living in various bubbles. Our contacts are mostly with family and friends. Among my parrot-owning friends there isn’t a single one who clips wings, and I’d begun to believe that this practice was becoming obsolete.

Now that I’m emerging from the bubble and spending more time on parrot forums, I find that wing clipping is still practised. Vets will clip wings if their clients require it, but most vets are now not in favour and many will advocate a restricted clipping that still allows the bird to become airborne but not gain height.

Youtube has videos of instructions on how to clip a bird’s wings. I am concerned that this will encourage