The Illegal Parrot Trade



Blue-Fronted Amazons destined for the illegal wild animal pet trade.

 The illegal trading of exotic animals is a far bigger problem than most people realize. Each year Zoo’s get thousands of calls from people who want the Zoo’s to take care of their exotic pet cause they didn’t realise what they were getting into or thought it would be cool to have an ‘exotic’ pet.

“This brutal industry is estimated to be worth billions of pounds each year, third only in value to weapons and drug trafficking.”[http://www.bornfree.org.uk/give/victims-of-trade/?gclid=CPiJ0efn3rYCFVQFMgodEDwASA]

This illegal trade has had huge impacts on wildlife and parrots are one of the most common species to end  

up in this brutal trade.

Man smuggling wild caught pigeons in his tights into a country.

Each year thousands of animals from all sorts of species are illegally caught for the trade and shipped around the world for customers who are willing to pay a fortune to get an exotic pet; a healthy Green-Winged Macaw or Sulphur Crested Cockatoo can go for thousands of dollars on this black market. Laws have been put down against the trafficking of wild animals but they are either rarely or poorly enforced.



 “For every ONE wild animal captured and sold as a pet it’s estimated that up to FIFTY are killed or die in transit. And 70% of wild pets will die in the first six weeks.” [http://www.bornfree.org.uk/give/victims-of-trade/?gclid=CPiJ0efn3rYCFVQFMgodEDwASA]

 

Wild animals never get accustomed to a domestic lifestyle and will suffer from the emotional and physical stresses it now has to deal with. A wild caught bird is prone to behaviour problems, aggression and self-mutilation. Wild caught animals are also prone to spreading diseases into domestic animals and prove a major health risk to you and your other pets. 

African Grey Parrots killed by illegal trade during transport.



Not only do wild caught animals make poor pets but their capture helps threaten wild populations. 1/50 parrots who are caught make it to their final destination and thousands of birds are taken each year and smuggled into other countries. Those who capture the birds have no care towards the animals or environments they are harming. Thousands of species world-wide are on the endangered list due exclusively to this illegal trading. Macaws, Sun Conures, and Yellow-Headed Amazons are just a few of the huge amount of victims of the illegal trade. As endangered species become legally protected they go up in cost and become more prized by people who wish to make big bucks off the birds. They don’t care if the species goes extinct they just want the money.

Here is a glimpse of what trappers often do to Macaws such as the Green-Winged Macaw to get one for the black market. In order to capture young Macaws or steal their eggs poachers cut down trees to get at their nest holes often crushing and killing the young animals or parents who were in the nest at the time

The Green Winged Macaw like other Parrots suffers mass
losses due to the illegal bird trade.

 not to mention whatever was crushed by the tree. This is just one example of the thousands of ways people catch wild animals for the black market. These deaths and those removed from the wild help lower how many breeding animals still remain in the wild to help keep the species from declining to the point of extinction.

If you want a pet parrot don’t encourage the black market. Buy from a breeder. There are enough breeders out there breeding parrots for pets that truly care about the birds and want to give people a safe, healthy and loving pet at a reasonable price. Most breeder birds were originally wild caught, originating before 1992, but breeders knew they would never be happy as a pet so gave them a home with a mate to produce birds who would be happy as pets starting up the modern bird breeding hobby. Breeder birds live happily in aviary's or special cages or pens with plenty of fresh water, food, space and entertainment where they are cared for by breeders who hand rear the chicks after they hatch so they will bond and like people. Breeders also like to make sure their birds aren't going to suffer and often are there to help you should you need it. The Black Market doesn't care, they just

Wild caught Indian Ring-necked Parrots for the pet trade. 

want money. Parrots are held in tiny cages with no real attention being given to their health or safety by people who know nothing on the animals they sell and basically disappear after selling so should you need help or advice in the future they won't be there to help you like a breeder usually would.

            To tell if a parrot was wild caught or captive bred look at the band on their leg. Breeders almost always put the band on when the parrot is only a few days old so the band is slipped over the foot. These breeder bands as they are called should be a solid closed ring of metal, much like a wedding band. Wild caught birds have a band that is open meaning it has a gap in it like the cheap plastic toy rings a child would get at birthday parties. This isn't 100% accurate though cause occasionally some breeders prefer to band their birds when they are older, a breeder usually has a reason for this, so the band can't be slipped over the foot so an open band like those put on wild caught birds has to be used but this is very rare to see.

 

R2 my parrot. If you look at his one leg you can see his
orange breeder band.

I'm happy to say that my parrot R2 is a captive bred Green-Cheeked Conure. He not only has a breeder band but I picked him out when he was still being hand fed and the store I got R2 from breeds and hatches most of their own birds, they even let you pick a newly hatched chick to be your pet. Plus I have a certificate to prove he was hatched in Canada with his hatch date and proof that he is up to date on his health records. Almost never do you see illegal bird traders rearing and hatching baby birds, the birds they sell are almost all adult animals, and they can never tell you the proper age of the bird or if it has received the proper vaccinations.

  

If people don't do something to stop this illegal trade it will do nothing but continue and help to destroy the natural world around us and harm many inoccent creatures.

If you wish to know more on the illegal parrot trade, or the illegal wildlife trade in general, visit these websites to find out more and see what you possibly could do to help:

http://www.parrots.org/flyfree/

http://www.acres.org.sg/wildlifecrime/petsvictim.html

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sowb/casestudy/165

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/roundrobin/2012/08/23/wildlife-trafficking-bust-highlights-problems-in-caged-bird-trade/

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/12/27/mystery-death-of-687-wild-grey-parrots-on-1-hour-flight-to-durban-revisited/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/21/illegal-wildlife-trade