Guidelines and Ethical Considerations for Housing and Management of Psittacine Birds Used in Research

Abstract

The Psittaciformes are a large order of landbirds comprising over 350 species in about 83 genera. In 2009, 141 published studies implicated parrots as research subjects; in 31 of these studies, 483 individuals from 45 different species could be considered laboratory animals. Amazons and budgerigars were by far the most represented psittacine species. The laboratory research topics were categorized as either veterinary medicine and diagnostics (bacteriology, hematology, morphology, and reproduction; 45%) or behavioral and sensory studies (behavior, acoustics, and vision; 17%). Confinement of psittacine species for research purposes is a matter of concern as scientifically based species-specific housing guidelines are scarce. The aim of this article is to provide scientific information relevant to the laboratory confinement of Psittaciformes to promote the refinement of acquisition, housing, and maintenance practices of these birds as laboratory animals. We briefly discuss systematics, geographical distribution, legislation, and conservation status as background information on laboratory parrot confinement. The following section presents welfare concerns related to captive containment (including domestication status) and psittacine cognition. We then discuss considerations in the acquisition of laboratory parrots and review important management issues such as nutrition, zoonoses, housing, and environmental enrichment. The final section reviews indications of distress and compromised welfare.

Stereotypic behaviours in Melopsittacus undulatus: Behavioural consequences of social and spatial limitations

“…However, guidelines on optimal strategies for the husbandry of parrots are scarce (King, 2000;Hawkins et al, 2001;Fair et al, 2010;Kalmar et al, 2010) and scientific findings are almost entirely based on a few large species that do not represent the most diffused and abundant parrots in captivity (Nicol and Pope, 1993;Gebhardt-Henrich and Steiger, 2006;Luescher and Luescher, 2006). As demonstrated in this study, the common husbandry strategies adopted in intensive aviculture are not successful in preserving the psycho-physical integrity of budgerigars.…”

“…National and international recommendations on the care and housing in captive environments have been established for a wide range of birds (Hawkins, 2010). Yet, guidelines on optimal strategies for the housing of parrots are mainly focused on large species and evidence for their applicability on the most representative parrot species in captivity are surprisingly scarce (Nicol and Pope, 1993;King, 2000;Hawkins et al, 2001;Gebhardt-Henrich and Steiger, 2006;Schnegg et al, 2007;Fair et al, 2010;Kalmar et al, 2010;Polverino et al, 2012).…”

Candidate Bird Species for Use in Aging Research

“…A considerable advantage of developing birds as models of successful aging is that dozens of species have already been domesticated either for commercial purposes or as pets, so captive husbandry, including commercially available food, caging, and a wide range of supplies, is well developed for numerous species. Also, many species are small (<30 g) and gregarious and can therefore be maintained at relatively high densities in research colonies (in keeping with available information about avian and speciesspecifi c husbandry; for reviews, Bateson and Feenders 2010; Kalmar et al 2010). In addition, bird behavior and neurophysiology are quite well known, so multiple assessments are possible to determine bird healthspan as distinct from lifespan, which is particularly timely in light of a recent shift in the aging research community to a focus on healthspan (Kirkland and Peterson 2009).…”

Feather-damaging Behaviour in Companion Parrots: An Initial Analysis of Potential Demographic Risk Factors

“…We excluded duplicate submissions (i.e., those containing identical information for all items); those that described hybrid species; and those that described potentiallydomesticated species (budgerigars [Melopsittacus undulatus] and cockatiels [Nymphus hollandicus] -both of which have been subject to artificial selection for over 150 years (Davis, 1999;Kalmar et al, 2010)). From the remaining set of submissions (representing 767 individual birds from 74 wild species), we next excluded those relating to species with questionnaires returned for ≤7 individuals, since these would be unlikely to yield valid prevalence estimates.…”