Training your parrot, overcoming behavioural problems, providing excellent care and educating prospective parrot owners about the mammoth responsibility of getting a pet bird are all very important. But as ‘bird lovers’ and owners, I feel we have another duty – to spread the word about the conservation of wild parrots.
It is a great privelege to own a spectacular bird like a parrot, but we must not forget the threats that their wild counterparts are facing.
For example, African Greys face threats like illegal trapping for the pet trade and destruction of their habitat. Because of the tiny ‘tubes’ the birds are often transported in, many perish before they are even sold, meaning illegal trappers are capturing even more than they need, to compensate for the amount of birds who die. Visit the Save the Greys fund page of the World Parrot Trust’s website for more information and to help.
The Blue-throated Macaw is currently listed as critically endangered and has been since as early as the year 2000. It is estimated there could be fewer than 250 individuals now left in the wild. Illegal trapping for the pet trade has drastically reduced since around the year 2000 but the habitat of Blue-throated Macaws is still under threat – deforestation for the purposes of growing crops or grazing cattle means they could struggle to find suitable nesting sites. And the small population means biodiversity is limited, which could lead to infertility (ie. breeding within a shallow gene pool). Visit the IUCN Red List report on this species here.
Why not type in the species of parrot you have into the IUCN Red List here and see if your bird’s wild counterparts are also in trouble? I have only provided a couple of examples here but there are many other species near or already threatened, to see all the World Parrot Trust’s current projects, click here, they include work to help the following species:
Blue-throated Macaw, Great Green Macaw, Hyacinth Macaw, Lear’s Macaw, Red-fronted Macaw
And many others:
Cape Parrot, Echo Parakeet, Golden Conure, Kuhl’s Lorikeet, Moluccan Cockatoo, Patagonian Conure, Red-throated Lorikeet, Thick-billed Parrot
I hope some of you will be inspired to Get involved in current projects by spreading the word, helping to raise funds or by making a donation to the World Parrot Trust or, at the very least, just be more aware of the plight of wild parrots.
Oh, and not forgetting the world’s rarest and, arguably, strangest parrot, the Kakapo! The un-parrotlike characteristics of this unusual bird from New Zealand has helped to raise awareness of their struggle.
Ok, so it’s a little different to your pet bird; the Kakapo is the heaviest parrot in the world and, despite having large wings, can’t fly. They are great at climbing, though, and apparently have a ‘musky’ odour! Most importantly, the Kakapo is critically endangered, there are fewer than 130 individuals remaining.