The Forbidden Fruit

                                             The Forbidden Fruit?

I think when we hear the word ‘The Forbidden Fruit” our mind automatically thinks of the Adam and Eve story, as it should! But here I have used it quite literally! Why is that, you may ask? Because I think there isn’t enough conversation around what we can/cannot feed animals, birds and insects. 

Basically, any other living being except Human Beings! Although I would admit, it baffles me to think so, considering how advanced our society is, there isn’t enough conversation around the right way to take care of other living beings. Come to think of it, it’s us human beings who carry the responsibility to take care of fellow living beings, because if not us then who? It’s our pleasure to be able to do that, not burden. 

We as human beings with a mind of our own, need to take care of our Environment and Earth together. But the best part is, if you take care of the former, the latter will take care of itself. Coming back to the forbidden fruit, of course there is food for animals, birds and insects in stores. But ask any veterinarian and they would tell you; it isn’t enough considering their nutritional needs. We need to feed them wholefoods and home food too! And yes, you read it right, ‘we’ because when I say animals, I don’t discriminate amongst the ones that live in human homes and the ones who live on the streets. Our responsibility is towards both, we can contribute to either of them, or both of them! That’s on us. 

There is a gray area amongst what we can/cannot feed to animals. The last thing we should do is feed them food that isn’t suited to their body and cause them health complications of any sorts. Which is why we need to learn about the forbidden fruit as in what we cannot feed them. Let’s take for example, rabbits can’t have rice, fishes can’t have flatbread, birds can’t have nuts so on and so forth. 

One common mistake I see in people is they consider what’s good for their body will certainly be good for other living beings too, which is the farthest thing from the truth. How we are isn’t how other species are, it is preposterous to think so. For example, fruits and vegetables aren’t best suited to many types of species including birds and many animals such as cats, dogs etc.. 

Coming to the topic of birds I don’t think there is enough knowledge amongst people about what they can/cannot have. There isn’t adequate bird food in stores either, they also tend to be quite picky eaters. Another misconception is that if you feed birds any food cut into small pieces, they would have it and that it isn’t good for them which I’m here to tell you is completely false! 

Birds such as our very own Parrot, that quite has the reputation of being very likable. Movies leave no chance to portray parrots as very intelligent and talkative beings, but I have to break it to you that they can’t talk in real life, I’m sorry if that hurt but I grew up watching Bollywood movies and really believed they could speak to us in our language! What a shocker that was! And so, they certainly can’t tell us what is/isn’t the forbidden fruit in their lives. So, we have to feed them very carefully and I meant carefully quite literally because they tend to be very moody when it comes to their food and sleep! At least we have that in common with them indeed. Now coming to the hot question of the hour.. Can we feed parrots plums? Or is it a forbidden fruit for them. 

The answer is YES! *ding ding ding* we can! They love plums. It’s very healthy for their body and mood if I may say! Haha. Please make sure to remove the seed of the plum, that is inedible and toxic for them. But the rest is enjoyable and a satiating snack, take my word for it. 

I think the takeaway from this is to be responsible to our surroundings and our fellow living beings. To be more accepting and compassionate of them as they are of us. Because we need each other and their well-being has to do with their health, meaning food, sleep and safety. Their sleep isn’t so much in our hands, but the rest is on us and so if we put two and two together. We have to feed them vigilantly and protect them from potential harms and it goes without saying that we shouldn’t hunt them until it’s a necessity. We need to feed them good foods, but first learn about the definition of a ‘good’ food and stay away from all forbidden fruits! And last but not the least, we can now have the absolute joy of feeding parrots the nicest plums, now that we know plums are in their liking! We know now it isn’t a forbidden fruit after all.