puppyeyes

In continuing with my theme of parrots, I would like to take the time to let you know about these beautiful birds.  The birds vary from place to place however the ones I knew were  a bright green colour, and the males had an orange stripe at the  top.

As I said before these birds are slowly becoming endangered over the illegal smuggling of the birds into American pet shops. Their little legs are tied and their beaks are binded, and some do not survive the periless journey. When they are left in pet shops without the proper care many end up dying. It is quite sad and common phenomenom.

According to wikipedia :

10,000 Hyacinth Macaws were taken from the wild for the pet trade in the 1980s.^[25]

The popularity of parrots as pets has led to a thriving - and often illegal - trade in the birds, and some species are now threatened with extinction. A combination of trapping of wild birds and damage to parrot habitats makes survival difficult or even impossible for some species of parrot.

The trade continues unabated in some countries. A report published in January 2007 presents a clear picture of the wild-caught parrot trade in Mexico, stating: “The majority of parrots captured in Mexico stay in the country for the domestic trade. A small percentage of this capture, 4% to 14%, is smuggled into the USA.”^[26]

The scale of the problem can be seen in the Tony Silva case of 1996, in which a parrot expert and former director at Tenerife’s Loro Parque (Europe’s largest parrot park) was jailed in the United States for 82 months and fined $100,000 for smuggling Hyacinth Macaws.^[27] (Such birds command a very high price.) The case led to calls for greater protection and control over trade in the birds. Different nations have different methods of handling internal and international trade. Australia has banned the export of its native birds since 1960. The United States protects its only native parrot through its Endangered Species Act, and protects other nations’ birds through its Wild Bird Conservation Act. Following years of campaigning by hundreds of NGOs and outbreaks of avian flu, in July 2007, the European Union halted the importation of all wild birds with a permanent ban on their import. Prior to an earlier temporary ban started in late October 2005, the EU was importing approximately two million live birds a year, about 90% of the international market: hundreds of thousands of these were parrots. There are no national laws protecting feral parrot populations in the USA. Mexico has a licensing system for capturing and selling native birds (though the laws are not well enforced). “

It goes on to say about endangered species :

“A large number of parrot species are in decline, and several species are now extinct. Of the 350 or so living species of parrot 130 species are listed as near threatened or worse by the IUCN.^[32] There are numerous reasons for the decline of so many species, the principal threats being habitat loss, hunting, and for some species, wild-bird trade. Parrots are persecuted for a number of reasons; in some areas they may (or have been) hunted for food, for feathers, and as agricultural pests. For a time, Argentina offered a bounty on quaker parakeets (an agricultural pest), resulting in hundred of thousands of birds being killed, though apparently this did not greatly affect the overall population [1]. Capture for the pet trade is a threat to many of the rarer or slower to breed species. Habitat loss or degradation, most often for agriculture, is a threat to numerous parrot species. Parrots, being cavity nesters, are vulnerable to the loss of nesting sites and to competition with introduced species for those sites. The loss of old trees is particularly a problem in some areas, particularly in Australia where suitable nesting trees may be many hundreds of years old. Many parrot species occur only on islands and are |vulnerable to introduced species such as rats and cats, as they lack the appropriate anti-predator behaviours needed to deal with mammalian predators. Controlling such predators can help in maintaining or increasing the numbers of endangered species.^[33] Insular species, which have small populations in restricted habitat, are also vulnerable to physical threats such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.

Trade, export and import of all wild-caught parrots is regulated and only permitted under special licensed circumstances in countries party to CITES, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, that came into force in 1975 to regulate the international trade of all endangered wild caught animal and plant species. In 1975, 24 parrot species were included on Appendix I of CITES, thus prohibiting commercial international trade in these birds. Since that initial listing, continued threats from international trade have lead CITES to add an additional 32 parrot varieties to Appendix I, including nine in the last four years. All the other parrot species are protected on Appendix II of CITES. In addition, individual countries may have laws to regulate trade in certain species.

There are many active conservation groups whose goal is the co Trust, an international organization. The group gives assistance to worthwhile projects as well as producing a magazine and raising funds through donations and memberships. They state they have helped conservation work in 22 countries. On a smaller scale local parrot clubs (or hookbill clubs as they’re called,) will raise money to donate to a cause of conservation. Zoo and wildlife centers usually provide public education to change  public conception “

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This is a great problem that people do not find the time to protect these inncoent creatures.  What can you do? First of all keep informed and try your best to not buy parrots from pet stores unless you are sure they have not been smuggled in illegally.

Secondly,  you can hold local conservation events or contact reputable charities who will assist you some of them are :

The World Parrot Trust, an international organization.

or www.parrot.org

Whatever you do , please be aware that if we don’t do something soon these birds who are one of the only animals to mimic human speech , may be gone from our world forever.

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