Abstract
Only a few birds besides domestic pigeons and poultry can be described as domesticated. Therefore, keeping a pet bird can be challenging, and the human-avian relationship will have a major influence on the quality of this cohabitation. Studies that focus on characterizing the owner-bird relationship generally use adapted cat/dog scales which may not identify its specific features. Following a sociological approach, a concept of human-animal relationship was developed leading to three types of human-animal relationship (impersonal, personal, and close personal). This concept was used to develop a 21-item owner-bird-relationship scale (OBRS). This scale was applied to measure the relationship between pet bird owners (or keepers) (n = 1,444) and their birds in an online survey performed in Germany. Factor analysis revealed that the relationship between owner and bird consisted of four dimensions: the tendency of the owner to anthropomorphize the bird; the social support the bird provides for the owner; the empathy, attentiveness, and respect of the owner toward the bird; and the relationship of the bird toward the owner. More than one quarter of the German bird owners of this sample showed an impersonal, half a personal, and less than a quarter a close personal relationship to their bird. The relationship varied with the socio-demographic characteristics of the owners, such as gender, marital status, and education. This scale supports more comprehensive quantitative research into the human-bird relationship in the broad field of human-animal studies including the psychology and sociology of animals as well as animal welfare and veterinary medicine.
Highlights
Humans and birds have lived together from time immemorial
The results of this study indicate that the owner-bird-relationship scale (OBRS) shows a promising attempt in measuring the relationship between the owner and his or her pet birds (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.90)
The findings of this study provide an important insight into the characterization of relationships between owners and their pet birds in non-commercial bird-keeping
Summary
Humans and birds have lived together from time immemorial. In the beginning, birds were most likely kept for food. Besides domestic pigeons and poultry, only a few pet birds can be described as domesticated [4], for example budgerigars and cockatiels [5], canaries [6], and Bengalese finches [7]. Living with a bird can be challenging, and the owner (used here synonymous to the keeper) has to learn how to give the bird the best possible life in captivity [9]. The quality of this cohabitation is influenced by the human-avian relationship. Only a few studies have focused on characterization of this relationship
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