Parakeet
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006This morning I read on the IUCN website that 94 of the world’s 330 species of parrots, ranging from parakeets to macaws, are considered threatened with extinction! Shit that’s a lot of species. Obviously the biggest reason for this is loss of habitat, mainly by industrialization or the illegal parrot trade.
Now what’s really fascinating is the parakeet trade in the U.S., Australia and South East Asia. I think almost all species are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES. But I do think some of these species are tradable via commercial trade with a permit. Many of these species are also protected in the U.S. under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. also has a ban on importing and exporting parrots, though there are exceptions when dealing with countries that have a healthy record with parrots. Even then the parrots must go through a 30 day quarantine process to screen them, obviously for health and disease reasons. Actually I think that applies to all exotic birds. I also read that even though the Endangered Species Act has cut back on the illegal trade in the U.S. quite substantially, 17,000 parrots are still imported illegally every year and roughly 3,600 of those are taken straight from the wild. The main problem conservationist try to stress is that many large parrots like cockatoos and macaws don’t produce offspring quickly or in large quantities which means rebuilding their population is very difficult.
What I don’t understand is how they’re traded? I understand they are smuggled to and through other countries with falsified paperwork and permits, but how many people are involved, with say, one bird? Is there someone who catches the bird in the wild, and a vet who looks over the bird? What determines the price of a parrot? There has to be some consideration…these things fetch between $800-1,300!
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