cokatiel neglect

Question
Hi,
I have recently noticed one of my neighbours down the road has bought a cockatiel. For three weeks I have seen this poor thing in a cage that is too small with one perch and only seed and water. This is driving me crazy since I too have cockatiels who live a life of toys and vegetables, with lots of love from me every day. I have dropped off a bag with cuttlefish and a toy, however the next day I still noticed he did not have it in the cage. So, I typed out an info checklist explaining what they need (vet care, interaction, variety of food, toys, and even what is poisonous to them). I walked around and knocked on his door to introduce myself and explain that I too have the same pet and here is my advice.. he is Chinese and there was a huge language barrier so I don't think he understood. Do i report him if the cockatiel is still sitting lonesome in this pathetic setup? I am so sick of pet shops selling birds and giving no information to the customer of how to look after it.

Answer
I don't blame you in how you're feeling and I thoroughly agree about the lack of information from pet stores.  Reporting this man won't change anything since it's considered that the "basic needs" are being met.

 That doesn't mean there isn't anything you can do. I've been in the same situation with a man who had several 'tiels in an outdoor aviary.  What worked was my taking over a boatload of supplies and claiming I had them 'left over' (he never asked, so I never had to make anything up).  I brought a bag of pellet food with a quality seed mix and I premixed it so that it was 80% pellets to 20% seed.  I had crushed a good deal of the pellets up so the birds wouldn't pick out just the seed.  Well, they would, but they'd still get some pellets by default too.

 I brought over fresh veggies and even took them out and hung them in the aviary.  I put in a 'tree' as well.  A big, cleaned and safe branch stuck in a giant planter pot with big rocks for weight and steadying (and ease of cleaning by hosing off, the water would run right through rather than make mud out of dirt).

I went by every couple days at first which is a lot of work for a project this big and a lot of expense for a retired, disabled minister like me, but I have to do the right thing.
 I didn't think this effort would ever end, but then one day I went by and he had fresh vegetables hung, I could see he washed down the 'tree' and he had even put in additional boxes!  He was so proud of himself and I gushed about the nice job he did.

Eventually it became clear that he didn't need me anymore.  He was not only taking beautiful care of the birds, but had become an advocate himself.  How amazing?

Not all stories end so well.  An older lady was breeding larger parrots without an iota of knowledge, resulting in a home that had every room except the bathroom and kitchen filled with wall to wall cages and parrots.  She was clearly overwhelmed and more eggs were in the nests.  Nothing I did, said or provided made any difference.  This was a case of a mental disorder and thankfully her family intervened, mostly because they didn't like birds!

So give the 'good neighbor' approach a try and stick with it.  At the very least he might change his ways just to stop seeing you.

See our girls  www.4AnimalCare.org