Do you have any thoughts on the YouTube channel The Urban Rescue Ranch? He's quite famous for keeping rheas. From what I know, Texas has very lax pet laws and he rescued the rheas from exotic keepers, but I also don't know anything about rheas and if they are ethical to keep.
Rheas are considered farm animals, like ostriches and emus, and their care is relatively easy. They are usually farmed for meat and feathers, but they are less commonly kept than emus and much less commonly kept than ostriches. Provided their keeper can provide ample space, correct nutrition, and fresh water, they are fine to keep domestically.
As for the urban rescue ranch, from what I skimmed through in the last hour, it seems like they are attempting to learn domestic rescue work while doing it, and are undergoing some major changes that look to be for the better, in the interests of the animals in their care. Their website has only a handful of examples of their rescues, and they appear to have been in operation for only a couple of years. They appear to currently be pressing for a wildlife rescue license, which I think is probably too rushed for them at this point, especially considering their recent move and the fact that they’re still trying to get the new location in order for the animals they already have. The animals seem to be in good health from what I saw, but I didn’t watch all of the videos.
That being said, they aren’t being very good about interacting with their aggressive Rhea, allowing him to repeatedly attack them (and injure them in many cases) and moving toward him to instigate this behavior. For a group with such a huge following that is touting themselves as educators (and stressing that they want to educate younger people on animal care), I think they’re being extremely irresponsible in many of their filmed interactions with the animals. Pretty much anyone can claim to be a rescue; being a reputable rescue means being responsible in all kinds of ways that the average random person isn’t, including ensuring that your conduct in media doesn’t set a bad example for others that may see your content and interact with similar birds, and minimizing risk to birds and handlers.
So, I think they’re trying to do good, and I think their animals are being cared for, but part of good, cute animal content/interaction is handler safety, and they largely ignore that aspect and are not presenting themselves or their animal content responsibly at all.
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