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Klaus Beckmann

I grew up on a farm and have consequently had interactions with animals all of my life. I was taught to respect animals at a very early age and to never be fearful of them. Hence, I learned how to live with animals and to interpret their verbal and body language as a small child. No animal ever bit or attacked me, because we understood each other and my body language worked in harmony with theirs.

I have been keeping animals throughout my entire life and I am particularly partial to birds.

Just once and only for a few years I stopped keeping animals.

Soccer has been my second great passion besides my love for animals. Consequently, when legendary trainer and coach Hennes Weisweiler observed me during a youth tournament, he discovered my talent. At the age of 15, he eventually encouraged me to leave the club in the village and join the great Borussia team, where I could hone my skills and began my life as a competitive athlete. From 1972 - 1975 I played for Germany in 22 international youth matches. In 1975, I signed a contract as a professional player for the Borussia Mönchengladbach team.

Unfortunately, my hopes for a soccer career were shattered by an irreparable knee injury before it even began. However, this meant that I could once again dedicate my life to animals.

I have been keeping and breeding Gray Parrots since 1988. I also tended to Sulphur-crested Cockatoos for a few years. Sometimes we kept up to 28 parrots, which obviously was a lot of work and costly. Since, as a result of competitive sports, my bones and joints are not functioning as well as I’d like them to, we drastically reduced our flock.

Now we have just three pairs of Gray Parrots and keeping them is just a hobby.

I am now trying to share my knowledge with others who have an interest in parrots to give them the best life possible.