The living room in John Geary's Fraserview townhouse is dominated by three large birdcages. It is late afternoon and time for the parrots to come out and play. Nikki, a 22-year-old Congo African Grey, is first. Stepping gingerly on to Geary's towelled arm, Nikki is transferred to his perch in one corner of the room. Coco, a six-year-old African Grey, is next and then out comes Einstein, a 10-year-old double yellow-headed Amazon.

"If I don't take them out in the proper order, they get really upset," explains Geary, a freelance writer who has kept parrots since 1994.

Within minutes, Nikki is playing on the carpeted stairs. Geary, who shares the townhouse with his wife, aims a paper airplane in the bird's direction. Nikki reaches out, tenderly picks up the airplane in his beak and drops it down the staircase. After much praise from his owner, Nikki wiggles his neck back and forth in anticipation of the next throw.

Parrots have fascinated the Western world for centuries. The ancient animal group with fossils dating back 40 million years comprises 323 species of parrots, which include everything from small budgies and cockatiels to the imposing cockatoos.

Their beauty and unique range of vocal capabilities have charmed humankind from the beginning of recorded history (Coco can sing the theme to The Good the Bad and the Ugly), but they are more than mimics.

Animal behaviourist Irene Pepperberg demonstrated how her African Grey, Alex, could distinguish between colours, materials and the shapes of different objects and then communicate the differences in English. Alex also created new words by combining the English words in his vocabulary.

In 323 B.C., Alexander the Great brought back parrots from India as one of the spoils from his army's conquest of the Persian Empire. Aristotle wrote about parrots, which were also fashionable in Imperial Rome. Their popularity diminished through the Middle Ages, but when Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492, parrots were the first animals he exported to Europe.

Parrots used to inhabit the southern part of North America in vast numbers, mostly in Mexico, but today the continent's indigenous species are gone after having been hunted into oblivion. Carolina Parakeets, the only parrot native to the U.S., became extinct in 1918. Exotic birds were popular household pets up to this time, but fell out of favour as they became associated with diseases that were communicable to humans.

But over the last 30 years the popularity of exotic pets, including parrots, has steadily grown. And even though parrots have been kept as pets for centuries they have always been bred from wild stock, meaning they have never been domesticated.

"Birds are sold as a commodity and they're not a commodity," says Vikki Ballard, who owns West Coast Tropical Bird Studio on West Broadway. Her store is hosting, in association with the Night Owl Bird Hospital, a yard sale this weekend to raise money for a parrot sanctuary on Vancouver Island.

"Parrots are wild animals; they're not dogs and cats," she says.

And that's bad news for parrots, many of which are abused or abandoned, and for potential owners who have no idea what they're getting into when they buy that cute, colourful and possibly traumatized bird in the window.

Ballard sells the food, cages and toys that help keep parrots healthy and happy. But she stopped selling birds years ago after frustrating experiences with owners who were neglecting their parrots. Instead, she provides counselling (for a fee of $55 per hour) for bird owners who are struggling to cope with an unhappy parrot.

The fee may seem steep, but larger exotic birds are big investments. Parrots cost between $1,500 and $2,000, a proper cage (birds will eat the paint off cheap versions and become ill) adds another $500 to $1,000. Feed and toys cost about $200 per month.

If the bird gets sick, avian vet care is expensive. "If you can get insurance it's a good idea, otherwise I tell people to put $10 a week aside for a rainy day," says Ballard. "A $1,500 vet bill is common when you add up the exam, blood work and X-ray. It's very complicated to get a diagnosis when they get sick."

The disposition of parrots is another problem. Birds imported directly from the tropics make the best breeders. That means even parrots that spend their whole lives in captivity have the instincts of a wild animal. They do not grow meek when they are challenged and bites are an occupational hazard.

Geary has a scar on his face from one of Nikki's pecks. "People always ask-'Do they bite?' I say, 'yes' and that they should get a toy bird at Toys 'R' Us if they can't handle it. Cats and dogs come from the top of the food chain; parrots are the food. They are hard-wired differently and react a lot differently."

Parrots are also intensely social animals that in the wild live together in flocks. Birds left by themselves for long stretches often exhibit the symptoms of depression. They stop eating, cease to play, become hostile, withdraw or pull their feathers.

"They need to be with living creatures as much as they need to eat," says Ballard, who owns 12 parrots. "People not only need money to keep birds, but they need time as well."

And then there's the issue of longevity. Larger parrots often live 60 to 70 years and their needs don't change much as they get older-it's like looking after a toddler who will never grow up.

"Parrots are amusing and they never die. You wish they did." George Bernard Shaw is credited with the one-liner (scholars disagree) and unfortunately it is often true. Many people who choose parrots as pets soon have buyer's remorse.

Last year in B.C., the B.C. SPCA took in 232 "non-wildlife" birds at their shelters. Lorie Chortyk, the general manager of community relations, says the SPCA acquires a lot of parrots as the result of owner cruelty.

"Parrots, like a lot of exotic animals, are seized because of neglect. People have no idea how to take care of the animals," says Chortyk. "We see birds without proper nutrition, needing veterinary care and distressed from boredom."

The number of unwanted birds keeps growing. The Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary is crammed into 500 square feet on the top floor of a plant nursery in Surrey. A long, narrow room has floor-to-ceiling pens on one side that are filled with cockatiels and budgies. Smaller cages on the opposite side hold a handful of larger parrots. Holes in the wood panelling reveal the absence of insulation and the room is further cramped by a portable air conditioner that struggles to keep things cool on a hot summer's day.

There are about 40 birds at Greyhaven at any one time with about another 40 birds in foster homes throughout the Lower Mainland. Carol Boutilier, the president of the non-profit, says the sanctuary needs another home, one at least three times bigger to keep up with demand.

Greyhaven was started in 1998 by six volunteers to provide a safe place for abused, neglected, abandoned or orphaned exotic birds. Now, 70 volunteers look after a growing number of parrots, raise money and provide the administrative support necessary to keep the place running.

One of Greyhaven's mandates is to find homes for abandoned birds. The number of adoptions has risen from 43 in 2003, to 75 in 2004 and up to 126 in 2005. Through July this year, Greyhaven has taken in 89 new birds and found homes for 82.

"We want our birds placed in forever situations, not a temporary fix," says Boutilier, a parrot owner for 20 years. Her household includes 10 birds. "They're very intelligent and need lots of attention, lots of love. It's a huge commitment for even the smaller birds. A budgie can live 15 to 20 years."

People interested in adopting a bird are required to fill out an application form that asks the makeup of the household, the type and number of pets already there, the number of hours the bird would be left alone and references. Jenny Tamas, the adoptions director at Greyhaven, visits each home to make sure prospective owners are prepared for the changes a bird will bring to their lives.

"Once a lady from Victoria called me up and wanted a 'blue bird,' a specific shade of blue to match the tones in her home," recalls Tamas, who waited until retirement to get her get first bird, a macaw. "She didn't care what kind of bird it was as long as it was blue. I told her it wasn't a good idea."

When the home is approved, the owner is charged an adoption fee ranging from $10 for a budgie to $1,000 for a large parrot. The money is put back into the sanctuary. Greyhaven also provides support to the bird owner for the entire lifespan of the parrot, in case things go wrong.

Since opening her business in 1995, Vikki Ballard says she is constantly asked to help deal with unwanted birds. "Every day someone comes in with a bird they don't want anymore and they want to drop it off. It's never ending."

Ballard says most people give up on their parrots for one of four reasons. "It's too loud and they can't live with the bird in the house. It's too demanding. It bites or it's sick and costs too much money."

It is not unusual for a parrot to have seven homes over its lifetime. For an animal that is monogamous in the wild and bonds fiercely with a loving owner, every new home provides a fresh layer of trauma.

For the 500 plus birds that have arrived at the World Parrot Refuge in Coombs on Vancouver Island, this home is their last. Over 40 different species of parrots fly freely in Wendy Huntbatch's 23,000-square-foot aviary, a space filled with tree branches, multi-coloured ropes and bright toys. During a tour of the refuge, beautifully marked parrots of all colours greet Huntbatch with birdcalls and "hellos" and latch on to the metal caging so she can rub their feet.

None of the birds are available for sale or adoption. Huntbatch has been taking in people's birds for the last 13 years, first in a location near Abbotsford and in Coombs since 2004. Huntbatch believes that parrots come alive only when they are with their own kind.

"Parrots should have never been pets," says Huntbatch quietly in an English accent, her pale blue eyes reddened and swollen after the loss of a treasured parrot to cancer the night before. "A bird in a cage is not a parrot. A flock like this is as close as people will get to see them in the wild."

Visitors to the sanctuary can watch the birds interact. They also learn the harm humans can do to parrots. During school tours, students are taken to the special needs unit to see the physical disabilities some birds suffer as the result of being caught in snare traps in the wild. The refuge also provides a home to birds from crack houses, where the owners fed the parrots drugs. They see how emotional abuse has resulted in cockatoos stripping all the feathers off their bodies.

"I want people to come in so 90 per cent of people will say, 'I never want a parrot,'" says Huntbatch. "I guarantee these kids won't want parrots when they grow up."

Joanna Burger, one of the best-known ornithologists in the world, estimates that over a five-year span 4.2 million parrots were legally exported from tropical nations, but this number comprises a small fraction of the birds smuggled out. Each year, 150,000 parrots are shipped illegally into the U.S. alone from across the Mexican border.

"The actual cruelty that goes into capturing them and transporting them to Canada is a growing concern for our organization," explains the SPCA's Chortyk. "There is amazing cruelty that goes into getting them here. Most of them die."

A tragic paradox is that as more parrots are taken into people's homes, fewer remain in the wild. They are becoming more rare and more coveted in the jungles, yet the challenge of keeping them as pets means they are increasingly taken for granted and more likely to be discarded.

There are hundreds of exotic bird sanctuaries across North America, many of them small operations that house 50 to 60 unwanted parrots. One refuge in North Carolina has taken in 700 parrots in the last two years.

Huntbatch's bird refuge will only get bigger. Ten paid staff and additional volunteers are required to prepare the food, clean the floors, scrub the perches and run the gift shop. Keeping the place going costs $20,000 a month, and despite growing revenues, the refuge is subsidized with her own money.

Huntbatch would like to see a ban on the import of parrots into Canada as breeders need birds from the wild to stay profitable. Most of the people who look after unwanted birds believe educating the public on the difficulty of providing a good home for a parrot is the only way to slow their sales in pet stores.

"It's frustrating to us," says Boutilier from Greyhaven. "We've done a lot of PR, we go to schools and community events, but we don't seem to be able to get our message across. There seems to be a huge change in society that it's OK to have disposable pets."

Adds Huntbatch: "They say everyone's life changes every seven years. At the moment they get the bird, they're convinced they're doing the right thing, but people's lives change. Every day for the parrot is the same. Parrots don't change. It's hard for a senior to play with a parrot every day."

John Geary admits to making some sacrifices to keep their three parrots. He works from home so the birds are out of their cages three or four hours a day. Geary and his wife camp less and take more day trips because there are few sitters equipped with the patience or experience to look after the birds properly.

"We are fortunate that we can live that way with a different lifestyle where one person has to spend most of his time in the household and the other works out of the home," he says. "For the welfare and well-being of our birds we don't want them sitting in a cage for eight to 10 hours."

Dedicated bird owners like Geary reflect the attraction humans have always had with exotic animals. Too often Huntbatch witnesses human intolerance to their needs. She tells the story of a Blue Gold Macaw that came into her care. The bird had grown up in a small cage and was not allowed out.

"It had lived in a rat cage for 12 years; its feet had grown so they were permanently wrapped around the perch. It took me six months to straighten them out," she says.

It's those kinds of stories she wants to hear less of. She and other bird advocates like Ballard believe more must be done to get their message out to the public.