John seems to equate keeping captive birds with capturing them in the
wild.
There are of course occasions when it is acceptable (in my view) to
capture wild birds for captive breeding - when they are threatened in
the wild for example and the aim is to assist in breeding. In
Australia therre have been programs for both Orange bellied Parrots
and Helmeted Homeyeaters that I am aware of. But in general I (and I
suspect most birders) would be strongly opposed to taking brds from
the wild to be kept as pets.
But we must also accept that there are large numbers of birds around
that were bred in captivity. I happen to keep some myself - so my
views are biased! But if keeping them is captivity is cruel (mine have
a large aviary and probably less stress and better care than they
would get in the wild, but many people do keep them in cruel
conditions) what do we do - kill them all or release them???
Similar thoughts of course apply to other pets - we are not going to
remove dogs (I have 3 myself) , cats or others from society. We should
strive to make sure they are well looked after and there is no
cruelty, and also to try to reduce the number of unwanted strays.
Maybe in time society will change so that keeping of pets is not
accepted - but I suspect that as the amount of "wild"-life decreases
people may feel more, not less need, for pets. After all, people tend
to keep as pets animals they could not easily see in the wild (anyone
got a pet sparrow?) so if the number of wild animals declines this
feeling may grow stronger????
Maybe this will fire up John's debate - he seemed disappointed no-one
had replied!
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