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The Wild Parrot Trade: STOP IT! By Rosemary Low In
Europe we are not yet civilized or concerned enough to follow the example set by
the USA in 1993 when the Wild Bird Conservation Act became law. It prohibited
the importation of all wild-caught parrots except in certain rare circumstances.
I would strongly endorse the importance of this Act and the need for similar
legislation to be passed in Europe and elsewhere. At present in the UK there are
double standards. In most circumstances trapping of our native birds is illegal,
as is taking their eggs or even disturbing them at their nest, and can result in
a prison sentence. Yet we legally import thousands of wild-caught birds from
other countries. The World Parrot
Trust is campaigning for a ban on the importation of wild-caught parrots into
the European Union. A petition has been signed by more than 16,000 individuals
in 83 countries. We ask you to sign
this petition if you have not already done so and to persuade at least three
other people to do so. The
trade in wild-caught parrots is cruel, wasteful and unnecessary. The arguments
in favour of continued trade, often heard in Europe, are all invalid and based
on misconceptions. They include the following.
Many
breeders state that "new blood" is necessary to maintain the rarer
species in aviculture. I maintain that past history shows that enormous numbers
of certain species have not resulted in them being established, simply because
they are not "commercial". One
example is that of the Orange-flanked or Grey-cheeked Parakeet (Brotogeris
pyrrhopterus) from western Ecuador and extreme northern Peru. It was heavily
exploited during the 1980s before which it was abundant in the wild in its
limited area of distribution. Then from 1983 to 1988 at least 60,000 birds were
exported. Most of these had been taken from nests and hand-reared. They were
very popular as pets in the USA. Despite the tens of thousands exported, it is
now a rare bird in aviculture, with probably fewer than ten breeders in the USA.
Last year I made extensive enquiries and advertised in several avicultural
magazines in the UK but I was unable to locate a single bird. If a species
cannot be established in aviculture when 60,000 were exported during a five-year
period, the argument that trade in wild-caught parrots should continue to
provide unrelated birds for breeders, is not very convincing. The total
population of the Grey-cheeked Parakeet, which is now classified as Endangered,
is estimated to be only about 15,000 birds - just one quarter of the number
exported in that five year period. In this case trade had a lasting impact on
its numbers and, due to deforestation, there is now no possibility for recovery.
Some
purchasers of wild-caught parrots purport to believe that they are contributing
towards the financial support of local communities. In fact catching parrots
makes very small sums of money for trappers or anyone else in the country of
origin who needs the income. In Mexico, Katherine Renton is studying the
Lilac-crowned or Finsch's Amazon (Amazona finschi) where the trade in the native
Amazons is highly detrimental. See her article on page 14 of this issue, where
she lays to rest the myth that it is the poor people who benefit from trapping
parrots. Most
of the profits of the parrot trade go to already wealthy middlemen in the
importing countries.
Some
breeders claim that by breeding the rarer parrots, which are still being
imported from the wild, often illegally, they are contributing to their
conservation. In the UK there was an unfortunate case of the breeder who
obtained wild-caught Lear's Macaws (Anodorhynchus leari), a critically
endangered species, and was imprisoned as a result. He claimed that his sole aim
was the conservation of the species. One weekly avicultural magazine received
many letters in his support, with the opinion that his sentence was harsh and
unjustified. They were apparently unable to comprehend that his action, and the
actions of others who buy such birds, are the reason why the species is
critically endangered. A
major reason why private breeders cannot participate in breeding programs for
endangered species is the disease-risk. In the past couple of decades viral
diseases have had a very serious impact on parrot collections worldwide. These
diseases are the result of mass export of wild-caught parrots, where birds are
held in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. Wild parrots might have lived
with these viruses for eons but in times of stress they surface. Also, when
birds from different continents are kept in the same premises, they encounter
viruses to which they have no resistance, with fatal consequences. I refer to
outbreaks of psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD), proventricular
dilatation disease, Pacheco's disease and others. Many of them surface in
breeders' aviaries, no matter how good the conditions are. The high incidence of
disease in collections where various parrot species are kept means that
releasing captive-bred birds poses an unacceptable risk to the wild population.
This is why breeding and release programs of endangered species must be in situ,
such as those for the Echo Parakeet (Psittacula eques) on Mauritius and the
Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata) on Puerto Rico. Such
breeders also claim that it is important to have captive stocks of the rarer
species for restocking wild habitats when a species becomes extinct. The fact
that hand-reared birds are usually poor candidates for release is another reason
why private breeders are unlikely to participate in the conservation of
endangered parrots. Although many are bred in captivity, most are not
parent-reared, in order to maximize production (and income).
Some
people in favour of continuing trade claim that if the young of a pair are
removed from the nest, the pair will nest again. Data collected between 1979 and
1999 from investigators conducting ecological or behavioural studies of
neotropical parrots showed that overall the poaching rate was 30 per cent
(Wright and Toft, 2001). If
a nest failed, nesting by pairs (various species) in the same year was extremely
rare: only one per cent of pairs nested again. Other
reasons to outlaw trade in wild-caught parrots are as follows: |
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Trapping methods are inhumane. Those in doubt should watch the World Parrot Trust's video "Where the wild Greys Are." It demonstrates the appalling treatment and rough handling of Greys being trapped in nets in the Congo, including many adult birds. This is the worst and most wasteful kind of trade because many adult parrots will die of stress after enduring days or weeks or months of intense fear. |
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| Trapping of adult birds should not be permitted because: | African Grey Parrots found dead in transit to Europe | ||||||||
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Photo: Jan Rodts, Royal Belgian Society for the Protection of Birds |
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a
Many can never adapt to a life in captivity. They do not make suitable pets and
are soon unwanted. b
The breeding population is decimated and c
Trapping deprives some mated birds of their partners and probably results in
chicks starving to death in the nest. The
trade in chicks removed from nests is equally cruel. One dealer in the Argentine
Chaco stated that the average number of young Blue-fronted Amazons (Amazona
aestiva) that passed through his hands in one year was 7,000 and that in 1973 he
fed 13,500 chicks. As many as 300 chicks could be fed in an hour. An infamous
piece of film, shown on television many times, shows chicks of this species
being fed and over-fed. Those which were over-fed died, probably almost
instantly, and were thrown aside.
Trade
alone, or trade in conjunction with habitat destruction (as in the case of
Spix's Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii)) can and have, resulted in extinction. A
number of formerly common parrot species familiar to us all have suffered
catastrophic declines due to trapping. In Venezuela, for example, the
Yellow-fronted Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala) is the most preferred of all parrot
species due to its linguistic skills. Desenne
and Strahl (1991) thought that it might "reach threatened status within
Venezuela due to the huge numbers of this species that are captured for the
national and international trade". The
Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea sulphurea) is one of the 15
Critically Endangered Parrots of the world - solely due to over-trapping for the
pet trade. Numbers of parrots trapped are enormous. A study in the late 1990s of
the international trade in parrots listed by CITES found that 1.2 million
parrots were exported between 1991 and 1996, with the majority of those birds
coming from the neotropics. These figures are thought to be a gross
underestimate of the actual numbers of birds taken from the wild because they
exclude pre-export mortality, which has been estimated to reach 60 per cent of all birds
trapped or taken from nests. International
trade figures do not account for the substantial illegal international trade and
the equally serious domestic trade. When these factors are taken into
consideration, the number of chicks taken from the wild in the neotropics was
estimated at 400,000 to 800,000 per year from 1982 to 1986.
Lack
of nesting sites is depressing populations in many areas, often as a result of
selective felling of the larger trees. However, researchers in the Argentine
Chaco who studied the impact of trade on the Blue-fronted Amazon there,
estimated that approximately 100,000 of its nest trees were destroyed or damaged
between 1981 and 1989 by poachers when they stole chicks from nests (Bucher et
al, 1992). CITES The
Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has had some impact - but not
enough - on controlling export. This is the only global treaty designed to
protect endangered fauna and flora from excessive trade. According to the degree
of threat which dealing in wild-caught birds would impose on a species, it is
listed under three Appendices. On Appendix I are the species threatened with
extinction on which trade would have a catastrophic effect. On Appendix II are
species that could be threatened if export was not regulated effectively. Trade
in these species is permitted if it is sustainable and the specimens were
obtained legally. Also
on Appendix II are the offspring - but not those of the first generation - of
species on Appendix I. The treaty was signed in March 1973.
On June 6 1981 nearly all members of the parrot family, excluding those
listed in Appendix I, were placed on Appendix II. At the time of writing, 136
countries were signatories to CITES. Unfortunately, some countries that trade in
enormous numbers of wild-caught parrots are not signatories. Parrots on Appendix
II continue to be trapped and exported although no research has been carried out
on most species and it is not known whether trade is sustainable. Annual quotas,
such as those established by the governments of Guyana and Argentina, were
apparently not based on research and might have been, or still are, in excess of
sustainable trade levels. Exporting
countries Over
the past few decades, there have been changes in the main countries exporting
neotropical parrots. Brazil banned the export of its fauna in 1967, Costa Rica
and Venezuela did likewise in 1970 and Colombia in 1973. In the early 1970s the
major exporters were Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay. By the early 1980s,
Belize, Ecuador, Mexico and Colombia had ceased to export wild-caught birds and
the major exporters were Argentina, Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Peru. In 1984
Bolivia banned the export of wildlife and Argentina was the single largest
exporter of neotropical parrots for several years. Guatemala banned export in
1986 and Honduras in 1990. By the 1990s most of the parrots exported into Europe
came from Guyana and Nicaragua. It should be noted that most of these countries
retained a large internal trade in wild-caught parrots and the illegal export
and smuggling of many species continued as before. Many parrots cross borders
illegally. Note
that two Mexican species appear on this list. One of them is the endemic
Lilac-crowned or Finsch's (Amazona finschi), the subject of a conservation program. After nearly 20 years of prohibiting export of its fauna, Mexico
changed the regulations. This is being strongly challenged by conservationists. Species
with high mortality Some
species are exported despite the fact that their survival is almost nil. It is
well-known that the Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda) seldom survives
more than a few months, at most, in captivity. Breeding successes have been very
few and have never been sustained over the long term.
In the year 2000, 648 were exported from Malaysia. It is unlikely that
any are alive today. Many do not even survive the journey, partly because they
are badly packed, to save transport costs. Another
species from Malaysia with an extremely low survival rate is the little
Blue-rumped
Parrot (Psittinus cyanurus). It is classified as Near-threatened (close to
qualifying as Vulnerable, which means it faces a high risk of extinction in the
medium-term future.) Survival is also low among Blue-crowned Hanging Parrots
(Loriculus galgulus) exported from Malaysia, although a small number of birds are bred in
captivity. Clearly, the export trade is solely aimed at making money with
absolutely no consideration for the birds involved. While this should not
surprise anyone, trade in species with an exceedingly high mortality should be
outlawed. Unfortunately, it is likely to be many years (if ever) before ethics
play any part in the export trade. Trade
in Indonesia In
July this year the Indonesian organization KSBK (Animal Conservation for Life)
issued a report on the parrot trade in Indonesia.
In the province of North Maluku, for example, 15,000 parrots are trapped
annually. There is no limit to the numbers of some species (such as the Umbrella
Cockatoo (Cacatua alba)) that can be trapped. Even in the case of species with
zero export quotas, the local conservancy unit (SBKSDA) issues many trapping
permits. The birds are sent to Jakarta and Bali. In Java, many of these parrots
are sold in markets. The
National Army of Indonesia (TNI) is involved in this trade. Soldiers returning
from duty bring hundreds of parrots back in warships. Species include Chattering
Lories (Lorius garrulus), Violet-necked Lories (Eos squamata) and Umbrella
Cockatoos. From
January to March 2002 KSBK, supported by the RSPCA, carried out an investigation
into parrot trade in five markets in Java. The most traded species was the
Black-capped Lory (Lorius lory). Other Lorius lories, Eos lories, Eclectus
(Eclectus roratus), Green-winged King Parrots (Alisterus chloropterus) and Tanygnathus
parrots were also heavily traded. Dealers
in Jakarta and Bali ship to Pakistan, Qatar, Taiwan, Italy and Spain. Most of
these birds are erroneously reported as captive-bred. Of the species trapped, 47
per cent are "protected" by law. Trade has resulted in the local extinction
of Lesser Sulphur-crested and Moluccan Cockatoos (Cacatua moluccensis), Red and
Blue Lories (Eos histrio), Purple-naped Lories (Lorius domicella) and Chattering
Lories (Lorius garrulus). Our
member Stewart Metz, M.D., has created the Stop Smuggling of Indonesian Birds
Petition to Indonesia's President Megawati Soekarno Putri. You are urged to sign
this petition also on-line at: www.PetitionOnline.com/cockatoo/petition.html That
the Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA) had the effect of lowering nest poaching
in South America was shown in 10 species for which direct comparison was
possible: the poaching rate was 48 per cent before the Act was passed in 1992 and
20 per cent
after the act became law. Research
has shown that after the US banned the importation of wild-caught parrots in
1993, export of some parrot species from the neotropics did decline. It would
decline further if the European Economic Union (EEU) were to follow suit. The
EEU accounted for more than 75 per cent of all parrots legally imported in the three
years immediately following the enactment of WBCA. However, there are still many countries, especially in the Far East, that import large numbers of wild-caught parrots. It seems probable that in due course most countries will not allow the importation of wild-caught parrots. However, by the time that occurs many parrots will have declined so much that the export trade will not be viable. It has already done irreversible damage to many parrot populations and caused incalculable suffering to millions of individual parrots. This article first appeared in PsittaScene, November 2002, the magazine of the World Parrot Trust. Rosemary Low is the editor of the WPT magazine. (The background music you hear is "Fly, Parrot Fly," written by Mike Schindlinger, sung and recorded with his brother Ron)
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General Information About African Greys
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