"Capture or hunting of Hyacinth macaws has been illegal for many years in Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, but generally the effectiveness of the governing laws has been minimal....It is evident that CITES regulations alone cannot be effective in stopping or regulating the trade in the species.... If the trade slows or stops, then the species is virtually assured of survival in the Pantanal region for many decades.* -----Dr. Charles Munn, Jorgen Thomsen, and Carlos Yamashita (WCI Research Associate with Dr. Munn), The Spix's Macaw: Virtually Extinct in the Wild "The evidence gathered revealed the (former) presence of wild Spix's macaws only in remnant patches of T. caraiba woodlands....Our survey of T. caraiba woodland found that this habitat is not regenerating. [I]n recent times the Spix's macaw... was confined to the areas where T. caraiba forms gallery woodlands; the limited extent of this habitat-type explains [the Spix's Macaw's] original scarcity and susceptibility to trapping for the black market in live birds. Indeed, since only a single individual is thought to remain, we conclude that trapping for the live trade has led to the virtual extinction of Cyanopsitta in nature. -A.T. Juniper and C. Yamashita, "The Habitat and Status of Spix's macaw Cyanopsitta spixii, Bird The Wild Bird Trade in Venezuela: Illegal Trade via Neighboring Countries "[A] major cause of the decline of psittacid [parrot] populations in Venezuela has been the national and international pet trade....The current level of trade in the Psittacidae in Venezuela is alarming, particularly in light of the complete national-level legal restrictions on commerce in these species. Despite their legal protection, many populations are under increasing pressure." "The majority of Venezuelan Psittacidae in the international pet market leave the country from the delta of the Orinoco River. We estimate that between 65,000 and 75,000 psittacids are exported yearly from the delta alone. Considering the alleged destination of these birds, it is highly likely that a major portion of the legal export quotas for Psittacidae established by Guyana - over 36,000 in the previous year - are filled by illegally exported Venezuelan birds. The destination of surplus birds is probably the illegal international market via both Guyana and Trinidad. In the delta, the previously common Blue-and-yellow Macaw Ara ararauana has been trapped so heavily that it is now considered extremely rare....The estimated illegal exports of birds from the Orinoco Delta is an example of the need for international cooperation. We feel that the delta is the most critical point for protection measures of psittacidae..." ------Dr. Stuart Strahl (WCI Assistant Director for Latin American Programs) and Philip Dessene, "Trade The Parrot Trade in Mexico: A Major Smuggling Route for Parrots into the US "In 1982, legal exportation of Mexican wildlife was banned...[Nonetheless], Mexico has been one of the big laundry and springboard' countries in the illegal trade of psittacines. The Division of Law Enforcement of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pointed out that in 1987 Mexico was the major source of smuggled wildlife entering the United States....[It is] estimated that each year approximately 150,000 birds, mostly psittacines, are smuggled across the border from Mexico into the United States." "Most of the value of a parrot is added by major exporter and import commercial dealers. The same bird sold by an exported in Mexico for between $400 and $3,000 brings only 50,000 to 200,000 pesos ($19) or less to the bird trapper....The trapper thus receives 2.5% of the final e value for the bird. These figures indicate that the trade in wildlife does not benefit the country as a whole, nor does it profit the trapper in the field. Profits accrue mostly to a few influential Mexican citizens and pet dealers in the United States." -----Eduardo Iñigo-Elias (former WCI Research Fellow) and Mario Ramos, "The Psittacine Trade in The Blue-fronted Amazon: Large Exports and Declining Populations "Commercial exploitation of Amazona aestiva [the blue-fronted amazon] is one of the major factors threatening its survival. As this pressure stems from outside its range, we believe that all trade, both in Argentina and exports to other countries, should be prohibited at least until current population trends are reversed. It should also be noted that this can only resolve the problem where action is taken to arrest the process of habitat destruction also threatening this species." [Argentina imposed a moratorium on exports after the March 1992 CITES meeting until population surveys are completed.] --Dr. Enrique Bucher (WCI Research Fellow) and Monica Martella, "Preliminary Report on the Current Status of Amazona aestiva in the Western Chaco, Argentina," Parrotletter, The Newsletter and Journal of the ICBP/SSC Parrot Specialist Group, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1988, p. 10. The Bahama Parrot: A Small Population With Limited Remaining Habitat "The Bahama Parrot is protected by the Wild Bird Protection Act of the Bahamas and by international legislation such as CITES (Convention on international Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and the U.S. Endangered Species Act. While most residents of Abaca [an island of the Bahamas] are aware of these laws and respect them, illegal poaching of parrots could rapidly decimate the populations. In 1987, poachers raided four of our study nests and six Bahama Parrot chicks were taken. We recovered three of these. The illegal capture of parrots for trade has been a major factor in the decline of other Caribbean amazons, such as the Puerto Rican Parrot, the St. Vincent Parrot and the Imperial Parrot. -----Dr. Rosemarie Gnam (former WCI Research Fellow), "Conservation of the Bahama Parrot," American Birds, Spring 1990, pp. 34-35. High Mortality Rates in the Wild Bird Trade: "[He] was particularly concerned about the commonest method of collecting parrots, cutting down hollow trees where birds are nesting. Birds that survive the fall are taken to be hand-fed by local people, who neither know what to feed them nor have the proper foods. Mortality of chicks is very high, and even older birds often cannot survive the transition or diseases they are exposed to when dumped into cages with hundreds of other birds." "Quarantine. Fifteen years ago it was not unusual for 50 percent of imported birds to die before they could be sold....It was common knowledge among importers, collectors and conservationists that between one and 100 birds dies for each one that was captured successfully in the wild and eventually sold in a pet shop. Imports were approaching one million birds a year by 1971. This meant that millions of birds died to supply the pet market in the U.S. that year." -----Dr. Don Bruning, (NYZS Chairman of Ornithology), "Parrots for Sale," Living Bird Quarterly, Summer 1985, pp. 5-6. "The major technique used in Mexico to capture psittacines consists of removing chicks from nests. This method is prohibited by Mexican law." "Wild birds have a high mortality rate during different parts of the trading process. The mortality rate during nestling capture is a least 10%, depending on the species captured and the techniques used. The greatest mortality rate, approximately 30%, occurs during the confinement of birds by trappers waiting to ship to Mexico City. The high rate occurs mainly from poor nutrition, stress, and overcrowding. These mortality rates vary enormously with the species. The mortality rate of psittacines in the illegal trade is estimated as 40% to 50% greater than in the legal [domestic trade]." -Eduardo Iñigo-Elias (former WCI Research Fellow) and Mario Ramos, "The Psittacine Trade in Reduce Demand for Wild Caught Birds for Pets: One Solution "A key to the protection of exotic birds is curbing the demand for them. The huge profits ensure that trade will continue until the American people insist that it be stopped and that our government enforce its wildlife laws. Potential pet owners in this country could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of birds if they bought captive-bred birds such as cockatiels, lovebirds and parakeets, instead of exotic birds..." ---Dr. Don Bruning, "Parrots for Sale." op. cit., p. 11. Tourism Opportunities for Parrot Conservation: "Estimates of revenues of Peruvian jungle lodges and data from tourist interviews show that each macaw potentially can generate between $750 and $4,700 annually in tourist receipts. Using a range of estimates for macaw longevity and ecotourism potentials, I calculate that each free-flying large macaw might generate $22,500 to $165,000 of tourist receipts in its lifetime. Indirect exploitation of parrots as tourist attractions is better understood, easier to manage, and less fraught with risks than direct exploitation of slow-reproducing adults and fragile nestlings for the pet trade." -----Dr. Charles Munn, "Macaw Biology and Ecotourism, or 'When a Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand"" op. cit., p. 47. Are Sustainable Harvesting Projects for Parrots Possible?: Difficulties to Face "[I]t may be difficult to train inexperienced rainforest Indians, colonists, and local bioloigsts to be precise and disciplined in taking and interpreting the data on the growth rates of macaw nestlings in natural and artificial nests. Also, local rainforest persons planning to manage or ranch wild macaws either to increase or reintroduce wild populations or to sell extra birds to breeders will need to be trained in important aspects of macaw diets, hygiene, and disease diagnosis and treatment." "But of all the problems associated with developing a model program in macaw ranching, the threat of cheating is the most difficult to eliminate. The most obvious form of cheating would be for a local rainforest landholder with a known number of legally-registered natural and artificial macaw nests on his or her property to steal nestling or fledgling macaws from adjacent rainforest property owned by the government or by absentee landowners and then pass them off as his or her own." ---Dr. Charles Munn, Daniel Blanco S., Eduard Nycander vM. and Duavid Ricalde R., "Prospects for Sustainable Use of Large Macaws in Southeastern Peru," Proceedings of the First Mesoamerican Workshop on the Conservation and Management of Macaws, 1991, p. 46. NEW YORK Zoological SociETY Fighting the Threats of the Wild Bird Trade Throughout this century, the New York Zoological Society (NYZS) and its field division, Wildlife Conservation International (WCI), have been at the forefront in bird conservation, reducing the threats of the wild bird trade at the international, national and local levels. NYZS started the successful captive breeding programs in the United States and Indonesia for the endangered Bali Myna and the Palm Cockatoo, both threatened by the pet bird trade, the former from domestic demand and the later from international trade. Wci population surveys of the hyacinth macaw in Brazil and NYZS efforts on the Palm Cockatoo resulted in both being listed on Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species), thus prohibiting international commercial trade in these species. WCI field research is currently addressing the ecology, effects of the wild bird trade, habitat management and ecotourism potential for macaws in Peru and Brazil. A WCI assessment of the wild bird trade in Venezuela, which prohibits the export of its birds, found an extensive illegal trade that is threatening several species and discovered that current controls have failed. Society efforts have also focused on designing conservation plans for the endangered yellow-shouldered parrot on Margarita Island in Venezuela, the Bahama Parrot, and other Caribbean parrot species. To build the institutional base for bird conservation around the world, NYZS and WCI staff have established several wildlife conservation organizations in various countries. NYZS also co-founded the Parrot Specialist Group for ICBP (the International Council for Bird Preservation) and the IUCN/SSC (the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources/Species Survival Commission). NYZS Chairman of Ornithology, Don Bruning, served as secretary for the the Group from 1980 until becoming its chairman from 1987-1991. NYZS legislative efforts have involved the successful fight in the early 1900s to stop the US plume trade, for which birds were being killed to supply feathers for ladies' hats, and the passage of important US laws that regulate the bird trade and protect native bird species. Outside the US, the Society's fight against the devastation to species of birds of paradise by the plume trade in Papua New Guinea culminated in a national law in the 1970s which prohibits the export of bird feathers. To protect the Bali Myna, NYZS launched a campaign in 1982 to stop the domestic pet trade which has left only 20 birds in the wild in 1990. Recognizing the limitations of current US and international regulations, NYZS helped design the regulations to implement the seminal 1984 New York Wild Bird Law, which prohibits the sale of wild caught birds as pets, and also helped pass the similar, yet stronger, New Jersey Wild Bird Act in 1991. NYZS and WCI are also working with the conservation community to enact similar national legislation. NYZS also assists in law enforcement in the US, with CITES, and in other countries by training customs officers, offering expertise in court, and by having produced color posters of the macaws, cockatoos, and amazon parrots for CITES to improve the ability of customs officers to enforce regulations on birds in international trade. Founded in 1895, NYZS is a unique worldwide organization dedicated to perserving the Earth's wildlife and ecosystems. NYZS publishes the award winning Wildlife Conservation magazine, and operates the leading conservation and education centers at the Bronx Zoo, the Central Park Zoo, the New York Aquarium and its affiliated Osborne Laboratories of Marine Sciences, and Wildlife Conservation International. WCI has the largest field staff of any international conservation organization, and currently conducts 140 field projects in 45 countries throughout Central and South America, Asia and Africa. BRONX, NEW YORK 10460 TELEPHONE 212 220 5100 TELEX 428279 nyzwci NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK/BRONX ZOO NEW YORK AQUARIUM WILDLIFE CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION EDUCATION SCIENCE Enclosed is a copy of my letter to Chairman Studds' Subcommittee regarding the pending "USFWS Bird Bill." As I have discussed with you, our organization is in support of the Bill as currently written. We are categorically opposed to the irresponsible wholesale capture and importation of birds for the pet trade. Having said that we also wish to stress that responsible aviculturists are not and have not been involved in this kind of activity. When you testify before Mr. Studda' Subcommittee on behalf of the many caring aviculturists in America please know that you have my full support and that of the entire membership of the Carolinas/ Virginia Pheasant and Waterfowl Society. Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of bird lovers everywhere. If I can be of any assistance to you please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Don Butler, President Carolinas/Virginia Pheasant and Waterfowl Society |