Save Bonaire's Parrots

UPDATE: July 7, 2011: Thanks to the outstanding support of donors like you, we now have enough funds to support the immediate needs of the parrots in our care.

To protect these birds over the long term, we still need your help. We have increased our goal amount to raise funds for anti-poaching, public education nest site management, breeding research, and habitat restoration efforts. Each will help ensure a sustainable future for these birds in emergency care, and for all of the parrots on Bonaire.

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The Echo team are working to save 112 endangered parrots and parakeets illegally taken by poachers and seized by park managers on Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean.

On Friday, July 1st, Echo - a World Parrot Trust FlyFree partner - received an emergency call for help from STINAPA (Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire). Following a tip-off, STINAPA had seized a group of 112 parrots from an illegal trader. The birds are native to Bonaire and were believed to be bound for Curacao to be sold into the pet trade.

The shipment of Yellow-shouldered Amazon Parrots and Brown-throated parakeets was believed to be bound for Curacao where they would be sold on to the pet trade. Several tiny boxes and dirty cages were seized and Echo are now caring for the birds, as they had previously overseen the successful rehabilitation and release of wild parrots on Bonaire.

The arrival of these parrots has caused tremendous strain on the Echo team and the organisation as there are limited resources to keep the parrots alive. Volunteers have been recruited but further assistance is urgently needed.

"The parrots require regular feeds and with 112 mouths to feed, which takes several hours so we really do have our work cut out," said Dr Sam Williams, Director of Echo.

"Without any warning we were asked to come and pick up the parrots and care for them. On the first night we worked in the dark with head torches and lanterns. They were in a terrible state and desperately needed feeding after being kept in appalling conditions and we suspect without food for several days."

Most of the chicks were unfed which had led to severe muscle wastage in some. One parrot was already dead and was still in one of the cages.

In response to the needs of the parrots the World Parrot Trust provided initial funding to enable the Echo team to care for the parrots yet the team will require more long-term financial assistance if they are to release as many of the birds as they can back in to the wild.

It has been illegal to collect wild parrots for pets since 1952. The Bonaire government took further steps to prevent the illegal capture and trade in parrots by implementing a pet parrot amnesty and registration campaign in 2002. All pet parrots were ringed and subsequently any person found to have a pet without a ring faces prosecution and confiscation.

As of 10/10/10 an agreement was made whereby the island of Bonaire was incorporated administratively into existing Dutch provinces in Holland. As part of this process the Dutch government insisted on a number of tough 'good governance' stipulations. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments aiming to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival including the yellow shouldered parrots. It would seem right that the Dutch government would insist on CITES enforcement on Bonaire given that they are signatories to the convention and are advocates of 'good governance' furthermore that Curacao are now a separate country with direct ties to Holland, making the issue of great importance to the Dutch as intermediaries. Furthermore they would be working with the Bonaire government to ensure that the perpetrators of illegal poaching are caught and punished and would welcome the work being carried out by Echo.

With further funding assistance Echo hopes to ensure that once the birds have recovered they are placed directly in to foster nests which are monitored each year, where they will hopefully fledge with the rest of 2011 season's chicks.

Keep up to date with the rescue efforts online at:
http://www.echobonaire.org/Parrot_rescue/

Learn more about the Echo Foundation:
http://www.echobonaire.org/

Learn more about the World Parrot Trust:
http://www.parrots.org/