Aside from the risk of injury (from either flying to the floor and being caught by another shoppers cart, or otherwise) there is a risk of chemicals and such in the air in retail environments that can be incredibly risky to large bird species.

Something as seemingly harmless as having mopped the floors can result in life threatening health problems (in little to no time) in birds due to the chemicals used.

Having a large breed bird is a lesson in learning how to change your regular lifestyle. No candles, strong scents, teflon, certain plants, etc, all for various reasons. Teflon, for example, when overheated and gassed, will cause most birds to die a quick agonizing death from ruptured air sacs.

I’d be worried about one of many possible things happening in a situation such as a mall/store/etc.

We take our parrot camping with us but we do so using all the precautions we use at home. He doesn’t come with us on everyday things since the risk outweighs the benefits of injury, exposure, or stress.

All that aside, I’m also surprised that stores would allow this. Bird poop is messy, and a parrot is no different then any other animal when it comes to “No Pet” laws, from my perspective.

With any animal in a store you risk having an “Accident”, which is typically the underlying reason behind the rules. With a large breed parrot, you are all but guarenteed to have an accident in the store - Parrots, on average, evacuate about once ever 10 minutes.

You can train them to only poop on command (ours is trained this way) but you can only go for so long before the bird simply cannot hold it any longer, and will go regardless.

Any day you guys want to come see our big guy, let me know.

What a gorgeous creature. And the colours just pop! I’m amazed they let a bird into a food store. I wonder if it talked its way in? Loved his see-through overcoat. Fantastic stuff.

I hope Max enjoyed his adventure!