African Greys have been heavily traded: from 1994-2003, over 359,000 wildcaught individuals were reportedly exported from range states. It is one of the most popular avian pets in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East due to its longevity and unparalleled ability to mimic human speech and other sounds. Habitat loss is also thought to be having significant impacts throughout West and East Africa. A recent analysis suggests that up to 21% of the global population may be taken from the wild annually, primarily for the pet trade.

The African Grey parrot is listed on CITES appendix II, which restricts trade of wild caught species, because wild populations can not sustain trapping for the pet trade.

African Greys have been kept as pets for over 4500 years. The Greeks and Romans kept them, Portuguese sailors kept them as companions on their long sea voyages and King Henry VIII had a pet African Grey parrot! The Egyptians are thought to be the first to keep the African Grey parrot as pets as depicted in their hieroglyphics.

The African Grey is considered the best mimic of all parrots, some have vocabularies of over 1000 words, this makes it a very desirable pet. Alex the world famous African Grey is known for his ability to count, reason, form sentences and name colours as much as a human child can.

Owners often liken the experience of keeping an African Grey to that of raising a young child - not only because of the birds' intelligence, but also from the substantial time commitment required. While captive-bred birds usually assimilate into their new households with relative ease, wild-caught African Grey parrots (which are no longer legally available in the US or EU) can find it difficult or impossible to adapt to life in a cage as a pet. They may show great fear of humans, emit a growling sound as a fear response, and may panic when approached.

African Grey parrots, like most pet parrots, are considered by many experienced owners to be very high-maintenance pets, as they require a good deal of personal attention and many hours each day out of their cages. While numbers vary with each source, most agree that three hours out of the cage daily and 45 minutes of physical interaction is the minimum attention required for good mental health. These parrots can live to around 50 years old, so they are a lifelong commitment!

As they reach adulthood their personalities change, and the cute, cuddly baby may become a demanding, willful, destructive creature with an awkward mix of wild instincts and learned domestic behaviors, and his klutzy infantile behavior turns into powerful agility.

There are two subspecies of African grey parrots; the Congo African Grey and the Timneh African Grey, we house the Congo African Grey. The Congo's tail is cherry red and the beak is all black, whilst the Timneh's tail is dark maroon with a lighter coloured upper beak, the Congo is the dominant subspecies being slightly larger than the Timneh.