Cee Lo is taking some serious heat over plans to rock out with his cockatoo out on the upcoming season of "The Voice" ... over concerns that stress from the show could cause the bird to self-mutilate.
The controversy stems from Cee Lo's recent announcement that he'll
be replacing the pet cat who accompanied him during Season 1 with a
Moluccan cockatoo named Lady.
But the move is causing some
concern among bird activists -- because Moluccan cockatoos are
endangered ... and are known to be extremely TERRIBLE pets.
TMZ
spoke with Monica Engrebretson -- a rep for the animal rights org. Born
Free ... who also happens to be an expert in all things related to the
Moluccan cockatoo. She's also a HUGE Cee Lo fan.
Monica tells us
... "Moluccan cockatoos are beautiful, intelligent animals but they are
very challenging to care for especially in the long term, and are prone
to considerable welfare problems."
She adds, "Many Moluccan cockatoos develop
self-destructive behavior including feather plucking and self mutilation
not known to occur in the wild."
"Many parrot rescues are
already filled to capacity with moluccans and other large parrots. I
encourage “The Voice” to reconsider featuring a moluccan cockatoo or any
bird as a 'pet' on the show and instead promote a more appropriate
companion animal such as a dog. Even better, they could feature a rescue
dog or a dog in need of a home."
She adds, "I want to add that I am a huge fan of Cee-Lo and I am glad that he appears to be an animal lover."
We reached out to Cee-Lo -- so far, no word back.
