Other 225 nestling parrots were seized last week by the Military Police at Mato Grosso do Sul state!!! Now they sum 600 blue-fronted parrots and 16 yellow-faced parrots, taken from their nests to supply the (national and international) illegal animal trade – only on this reproductive season!!! These animals are now receiving health care at the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center (CRAS) at Campo Grande. Since it was created 20 years ago, the CRAS has received thousands and thousands of blue-fronted parrot nestlings. Most of them captured on the board of Sao Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul states. The smugglers know this area pretty well, and sometimes stairs are left year-round at the nest-threes to facilitate the capture on the following reproductive season!
This year the illegal capture of these animals was unquestionably very intense; however, it will take three to four years for this huge decrease of recruitment to affect the wild population of parrots – about when the parrots would start their reproduction. The Blue-fronted Parrot Project aims to raise public awareness about the consequences of this uncontrolled illegal capture of the parrots. For the part decade we have been trying to instruct public not to acquire/buy those animals for pets – no consumers/buyers, no reason for the smugglers to capture them.We hope to come back with some better news next time.
Donations made here are
Dec 30th Joann M USD 57.50
11 Comments
How sad. These animals are smuggled and sold in pet stores and the like, right?
I am so sad to read that this keeps happening and is getting worse and worse. Very sad news!
Thank you all for your comments. Most of these parrots would be sold on roads for people who drive by, or on food/animal market, which are pretty common in Brazil. They would be sold for something around US$25 each. And whoever buys it, has no idea about where it came from, or that for each parrot that survived the illegal capture/transport/housing, 9 other parrots died. And to make it worse, these people have no idea about how to raise a parrot – most of the captive problems are due a poor nutrition during the first months of age. The animals develop a very severe deformity on wings, legs, and spine, which are not reversible.
On the other hand, here in Brazil is possible to legally purchase a parrot from a certified breeder, for about US$600. People who buy legal birds usually know how to raise them, and can afford good nutrition and health care. In my opinion, the key point is to educate people, raising awareness about the illegal animal trade, exposing the pros and cons of having a parrot as a pet (that can live for several decades), support the legal animal trade, and severely punish whoever is caught smuggling or keeping an illegal animal at home. Unfortunately, the law here is not severe enough to scare people from doing that.
Excuse my troubling you. I’m an editor of Copel, which is a nonprofit press and the most popular wildlife science magazine for children in China. We have long-term cooperation with the WWF, WCS and IFAW. And we introduced the biologist Neiva Guedes and the Hyacinth Macaw Project several months ago.
Then I want to introduce the Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot Project to millions of Chinese kids. I’m sure the kids will be very interested in the lovely parrot and want to know more about your respectable work. We hope they can love and protect animal from their childhood.
If you like, please reply to me.I shall appreciate hearing from you.
Best wishes!
Its disgusting to see those small birds being trafficked for money. Culprits need to be seriously dealt.
I completely agree with you Vijay. The detention time for this crime in Brazil is from 6 to 12 months, plus bail. But it definitely should be increased, and dealt more seriously.
What we see here just a tip of the iceberg. I even saw huge wildlife animals smuggles. I wonder what can we do to stop those culprits! They don’t even love animal as well?
This is so terrible! I can’t believe this is happening.
You are right Ross, it is terrible. We get very sad when we see these these hundreds of parrots, piled up in boxes, in their way to be sold in the illegal animal trade.
Thank you for your comment, and keep an eye for some better news!
“These animals are smuggled and sold in pet stores and the like, right?”
Exactly. Just imagine, how cruel could one be to commit such a heinous act!
Because here in Brazil the trade of these parrots collected from the wild is not legal (in some countries such as Argentina, the commerce of these parrots is regulated), they are illegaly sold at the side of roads, and at some markets (usually hidden underneath boxes, in tiny cages, very poor conditions). It is estimated that 90% of the parrots collected do not even reach its final buyer, dying during the shipment, from diseases, starvation, and/or dehydration.
And if this was not enough problem, these people that end up buying a illegal parrot usually have no idea of how to raise a parrot. And most of the parrots brought to the vet have nutritional problems, such as bone deformities and fractures, and complications of those.
There are many legal breeders in Brazil that sell all kinds of parrots born in captivity, with a microship, ringband, and documentation. But most of the people are still resistant to acquire a legal parrot, because they are obviously more expensive. These are the ones that are usually found at pet stores.
DO YOU WANT TO HELP THESE PARROTS?!
By donating to our Project, you can help to fight against the illegal pet trade, through educational progams to raise public awareness!! Any donation is trylly appreciated!
Thak you for the comments, and keep checking our blog! ;0)
Glaucia Seixas
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[...] the IUCN reports yesterday I was shocked to read Glaucia’s latest blog post from Brazil about 225 MORE baby parrots seized – this was in addition to the 400 parrots seized earlier. Parrots, are among the most intelligent [...]