Cookie-Sensei

I have often wondered which is crueler; cutting the feathers* of a bird that has never flown before, or cutting the feathers of one that has. To cut the feathers of a bird that has never flown before is depriving it forever of any chance it has to fly free; and flying is what birds were designed for. But to cut the feathers of a bird that has is forever preventing it from ever flying again. It must be painful; to know the joys and freedom of flight, only to have it unjustly taken away forever. So is it more cruel to take away a first chance, or a familiar chance?