MAARS needs your help to create a new sanctuary that provides space for flight. Your support is vital for giving the birds an environment that can better meet their unique needs than the current location.
Freedom from Discomfort
An enclosure may provide safety, but it cannot fully replace a natural habitat.
Wild parrots travel miles each day through forests, grasslands, and other changing environments while interacting with large flocks and constantly exploring their surroundings. Even the most thoughtfully designed captive environments are limited by space and human schedules. When parrots cannot fully engage with their environment, they may develop behavioral signs of stress. Providing comfort means more than offering shelter—it means creating opportunities for movement, exploration, and choice whenever possible. #MAARS #parrots #sanctuary #cockatoos #nonprofit
Freedom from Hunger & Thirst
For parrots, food is about far more than nutrition.
Wild parrots spend hours every day flying between feeding sites, searching for seasonal foods, manipulating seeds and fruit, and learning from other members of their flock. Feeding provides exercise, mental stimulation, problem-solving, and social interaction. In captivity, even a nutritionally complete diet cannot fully replace these natural behaviors. Meeting this freedom means thinking beyond what's in the food bowl and recognizing that how parrots eat is just as important as what they eat. #MAARS #Parrots #Sanctuary #Cockatoos #Nonprofit
The Five Freedoms
What does "good welfare" actually mean for parrots?
The Five Freedoms are the foundation of modern animal welfare. They include freedom from hunger and thirst, discomfort, pain and disease, the ability to express natural behaviors, and freedom from fear and distress. While these principles represent the minimum standard of care, parrots challenge us to think more deeply. They are intelligent, highly social, long-lived wild animals whose biology evolved in complex ecosystems. This series explores each freedom through the lens of parrot biology and asks an important question: How do we meet the needs of a wild species living in captivity?
#MAARS #Parrots #Sanctuary #Cockatoos #Nonprofit
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