Providing life-changing care and environment for special needs avian species in Minnesota.
Many people don’t realize veterinarians vary in bird training. Knowing the difference can save birds’ lives, reduce costs, and strengthen your partnership with your vet. Birds need annual (or more frequent) wellness visits because they hide illness—by the time signs appear conditions may be advanced. Vets with deeper avian training are better at spotting subtle early signs and using appropriate diagnostics to monitor health and wellbeing.
Bird-experienced veterinarians build avian skills through continuing education, mentorship, and years of treating birds. Board-certified avian veterinarians complete additional residency training focused on birds and pass the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (DABVP) Avian Practice exams, giving them advanced expertise in anatomy, diagnostics, surgery, and complex disease management. They are the specialists. Dr Sputnik, one of our umbrella cockatoos, appreciates the importance of medical checks!
Find an avian vet at the Association of Avian Veterinarians:
www.aav.org/search/custom.asp?id=1803
Bath time at MAARS is all about choice. Some birds can’t wait too splash, soak, and fluff. Puppy simply decide today isn’t the day, and that’s okay. Bathing should always be voluntary for parrots. Many were never taught how to bathe, and some need time, trust, and gentle exposure before they feel comfortable. Forcing it can create stress, so we let each bird choose what feels safe for them.
Puppy chose “no bath” today, and we respect that! #MAARS #Parrots #Sanctuary #Cockatoos #Nonprofit
Hey Walmart and Walton Goggins— using parrots in advertising may seem fun and eye-catching, but it normalizes the idea that parrots are entertaining, desirable household animals rather than highly intelligent wild beings with complex lifelong needs.
What campaigns like this do not show is the reality rescues and sanctuaries face every day: parrots suffering from severe psychological distress, self-mutilation, feather destruction, chronic rehoming, abandonment, and decades spent in sanctuary care after families realize they were never prepared for life with a wild animal.
Parrots can live 30–80+ years, form extraordinarily complex social bonds, and require levels of space, flight, enrichment, and social interaction that captivity cannot provide. When parrots are portrayed as colorful accessories or marketing tools, impulsive demand increases, and rescues are left to absorb the consequences.
The photos shared alongside this post are not rare cases. They are the hidden reality behind the commercialization of parrots.
We urge Walmart and Walter Goggins to reconsider the use of parrots in advertising campaigns and their personal involvement with animals in these campaigns. How you portray animals has an impact on public perception, consumer demand, and ultimately animal welfare.
Parrots deserve to be respected as living, feeling individuals, not props.
#MAARS #parrots #sanctuary #cockatoos #nonprofit
