Lord, hear our prayer...

For all the wild caught parrots so savagely netted and swept away from their families while their babies, dumped into burlap sacks, cried out in terror.
For all the exotic birds that witnessed the destruction of all the blessed trees and fled fires in fear from man's thirst to dominate, stripping the land of all its inhabitants, leaving nothing but bare ground behind.
For all the parrots that struggled through the capture but died unmercifully in transport from the stress of overcrowded, barbaric, confinements and inconceivable horror.
For all the survivors that made it into captivity but exist in a nightmare of confinement unable to use their God given wings of flight as they once remembered.
For all the baby birds bred in captivity whose crops were burned or have died needlessly from harshness of human hands.
For all captive birds that have been erased from their owner's consciousness and are abandoned to a lifeless existence with only a distant memory of what it was like to hear a gentle voice from someone that used to care.
For all those who don't know what it's like to live life as a bird or even to feel the breeze or sunlight but are doomed to darkness in closets or garages, trapped inside covered cages or shackled.
For all the Macaws, Cockatoos, Amazons and Conures that are stripped of their vocal chords for screaming, their sensitive beaks cut back to prevent biting.
For all birds that end up for sale in pet shops or breeders, like used merchandise, unwanted and frightened in strange surroundings with nothing than the familiar sight of bars on a cage.
For all the beautiful victims used as a marketing tool like a lifeless ornament caged inside hotels, restaurants and stores where no one worries if they are kept warm at night or if they are lonely and bored.
For all the neglected birds that are sick with infections from filthy conditions and malnourishment that may never recover and know what it is to feel healthy and be playful.
For all the misconceived parrots who were beaten, stabbed, blinded and burned for just being a parrot.
For every African Grey and Cockatoo that punishes himself from confinement and boredom by maiming his body body and plucking his feathers and for those who have lost all spirit of life and sway their head low from side to side slowly into insanity.
We ask humbly of you, dear Lord, to look upon all of your magnificent feathered creations. Protect them from evil and harm caused by man and to bring forth an awakening in the human heart and make it a kinder and gentler world for all captive birds - Amen

Sally Brooks