A post came across my Facebook feed this morning from a page called Jim's Place for Parrots about a macaw that tragically died shortly following anesthesia to remove a piece of hardware from a toy that had gotten stuck on its beak and could not be removed without putting the bird under. Birds are notoriously fragile under anesthesia, and I don't fault the owner or vet in this situation, because it all boiled down to an unfortunate and unforeseen accident involving a toy, which is actually a fairly common source of injury and death in captive parrots.
The toymaker offered to pay the owner's veterinary expenses and has already made a public statement about the incident, and are going to change the design of the toy to make it safer. Small scale parrot toy businesses are often owned by parrot lovers, and they are taking this situation seriously. Basically, there are no bad faith actors in this, however, it does present an opportunity to talk about toy safety, and the component in question that ultimately resulted in this bird's death.
The piece of hardware you see in the third image is called a rope thimble. It is commonly used to hold the shape of a loop at the end of a rope or cable, as seen in the second image. Personally, I am not a fan of cable as a toy component because even if it is coated and stainless, if the coating is chewed off, a powerful bird like a macaw or cockatoo could do enough damage to fray it, and frayed cable is both extremely sharp and can shed small pieces that could cause internal injury. But cables are frequently used, so let's talk about the hardware itself.
An open ended rope thimble like this, when pulled loose from a toy by a large parrot, is the perfect shape for disaster, as the opening is narrow enough to get caught on the beak. Its structure makes it difficult to bend outwards, especially if sturdy stainless hardware is being used, and depending on how much space there is to use tools, it would also be difficult to cut through. I can easily see why it would be virtually impossible to remove from a struggling, unanesthetized parrot. Given that even captive birds are vulnerable to exertional rhabdomyolysis (an often lethal metabolic acidosis resulting in widespread muscle necrosis) if they overexert themselves under stress, not anesthetizing also had significant risks.
Thankfully, fully closed rope thimbles do exist, in both stainless and nylon. These are less likely to get caught on the beak, especially the models with a smaller opening. Even those could potentially get stuck on the tip of the beak, but it would be both less likely and easier to remove. So, if you make parrot toys at home and will be employing a rope thimble, please use caution and select a fitting that poses the least risk of an unfortunate accident like this.
