All About Pet Birds | ScienceGate

Only a few birds besides domestic pigeons and poultry can be described as domesticated. Therefore, keeping a pet bird can be challenging, and the human-avian relationship will have a major influence on the quality of this cohabitation. Studies that focus on characterizing the owner-bird relationship generally use adapted cat/dog scales which may not identify its specific features. Following a sociological approach, a concept of human-animal relationship was developed leading to three types of human-animal relationship (impersonal, personal, and close personal). This concept was used to develop a 21-item owner-bird-relationship scale (OBRS). This scale was applied to measure the relationship between pet bird owners (or keepers) (n = 1,444) and their birds in an online survey performed in Germany. Factor analysis revealed that the relationship between owner and bird consisted of four dimensions: the tendency of the owner to anthropomorphize the bird; the social support the bird provides for the owner; the empathy, attentiveness, and respect of the owner toward the bird; and the relationship of the bird toward the owner. More than one quarter of the German bird owners of this sample showed an impersonal, half a personal, and less than a quarter a close personal relationship to their bird. The relationship varied with the socio-demographic characteristics of the owners, such as gender, marital status, and education. This scale supports more comprehensive quantitative research into the human-bird relationship in the broad field of human-animal studies including the psychology and sociology of animals as well as animal welfare and veterinary medicine.

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Addendum to Problems and Benefits of Bird Ownership

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1999.84.2.368 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 84 (2) ◽

pp. 368-370

Author(s):

Aline H. Kidd ◽

Robert M. Kidd

Keyword(s):

Wild Birds ◽

Men And Women ◽

Pet Birds ◽

And Behaviors ◽

Blue Jays

Because several recent studies suggested that adults who fed only wild birds would report having different problems and benefits than did pet bird owners who also fed wild birds, and pet bird only owners, the present study added data to clarify such differences. 150 adults were selected so that 50 persons (25 men and 25 women) each were classified into one of three groups: those who only owned pet birds, those who owned pet birds and also fed wild birds, and those who only fed wild birds. There were no significant differences between men and women in any of the three groups, and no significant differences in their responses. The 50 people who fed wild birds only reported having added problems with neighbors' cats, bees, ants, squirrels, blue jays, and other oppressive larger birds, but the 50 pet bird owners who also fed wild birds and the owners of pet birds only reported the same problems with minor differences in type and number of interlopers. Clearly, all bird lovers shared similar characteristics, feelings, and behaviors toward birds and acknowledged the minor differences in attitudes toward the benefits and problems created by the birds' various interactions and behaviors with humans.

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