I saw a Jennifer Aniston movie on DVD the other night called "Love Happens". In one scene the male lead in the movie, Burke, decides to follow up on the promise he made to his deceased wife to free her pet Cockatoo if anything happened to her. And so he takes the bird out to the woods in Seattle and releases it.A beautiful sentiment, however extremely inhumane. Had Burke bothered to do any research before he rashley decided to free a bird used to being cared for by people he would have found that this was a bad idea.
Cockatoos are native to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. It's not likely that a cockatoo would be able to survive a winter in Seattle where it gets down to as low as 40F.
Additionally -- animals raised in captivity were never taught survival skills. Releasing a pet bird to fend for itself could end up with his being unable to properly forage and know how to avoid dangerous situations.
I know this is "just a movie", but it still bothered me that such an irresponsible act was portrayed in film without the plot line indicating in some way just what the possible consequences could be for the bird.
