Aggressive Amazon

Question
My mother-in-law owns an extremely aggressive nontalking amazon who apparently was handraised and use to be social and very talkative.  For some reason he fell in love with me.  I've always been afraid of birds but for some reason I feel a connection to him.  I would like to give him a home and try to rehabilitate him.  I'm just not sure that it's possible.  He is very aggressive and will bite.  Is this possible?  What would you suggest as far as rehabilitation?

Answer
It is always possible to rehabilitate a bird, but sometimes it just takes the right person. Birds can be very particular about who they like and sometimes (with the right person and time), an extremely aggressive bird can become a docile house pet. Especially if he used to be tame and social. He was most likely not handled enough, or he was handled improperly (either abuse, or poor communication from the owner of what was expected from the bird), which has made him the way he is today. If the bird used to be tame and docile, it is almost always a result of how the bird has been handled/raised by people. However, some amazons (males mainly) will become aggressive and more unpredictable once they reach sexual maturity (3 to 5 years usually). Their hormones and aggressive sexual behavior tend to be particularly bad during the spring and/or summer months.

Here are some articles that should help you:

http://www.parrothouse.com/pamelaclark/secondhand.html

http://www.itsagreysworld.com/articles/used.htm

http://zachary.avianavenue.com/

http://www.parrothouse.com/handlingyouramazon.html

http://www.parrothouse.com/wrongwithamazons.html

http://www.amazonasociety.org/TASarticles.html#anchor51433

http://www.companionparrot.com/agression-and-biting.htm

I hope this helps in your decision.

-Maggie