Concern mounts over parrot trade | BBC

[Ediacara]

Concern mounts over parrot trade
By Anna Borzello
BBC, Lagos


Parrots start disappearing around
the time of the Hajj

Conservationists in Nigeria are concerned by a growing trade in the export of grey parrots from Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.

Smuggling is particularly intense at the time of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, known as the Hajj.

African grey parrots are not a globally threatened species.

But under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) only limited trade under strict licensing is permitted.

Thousands of parrots are smuggled each year from the forests straddling the border between Cameroon and Nigeria.

More at the BBC

[amazona]

1. how do they say they are not globally threatened?

They are extirpated in Kenya, and I have never heard anything to suggest that meaningful numbers of them still exist in the wild, although I hope that they do. I haven't seen a Gray Parrot I suspected of being smuggled in over 15 years -- too few of them left, I thought, especially with the price of domestic breds having dropped like a rock.

[MikeG]

2. You should try the Norwegian Blue. Wonderful Plumage.

[shanti]

4. haha

:eyes:

[Darth_Kitten]

3. I saw a documentary the other day.......

about this man who helps save Macaws in Brazil. Apparently it's a big business capturing these birds to ship them overseas as pets (most die on the way) :cry:

[T_i_B]

5. 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

Mr. Praline: I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

Owner: The Norwegian Blue prefers keepin' on it's back! Remarkable bird, id'nit, squire? Lovely plumage!

Mr. Praline: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been NAILED there.

Owner: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and
VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

Mr. Praline: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this bird wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!

Owner: No no! 'E's pining!

Mr. Praline: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ebarnes/python/dead-parrot.htm

[Mari333]

6. Terribly sad, parrots are brilliant animals

and my Oliver is a best friend here. I cannot imagine life without him. He walks into the room I am sitting in and crawls up on my lap to be groomed by me, and we speak to each other daily. I know his words, his nuances, the way he calls for something, and hes spoiled rotten but he was raised in a shop and born there. He loves his bath, and I truly believe that humans seem to have divorced themselves from the earth, from themselves as animals, and become so cruel that they are now killing themselves and everything else in their wake. We have lost the reverence for these amongst us, and we treat not only other humans as products, we do it horribly to the non human animals.
I surround myself with stray non human animals. I wish I could save them all , but I can only save a few. I become furious when I think of how cruel we as humans have become, and its very tiring to think of what we are doing on a daily basis to each innocent life for profit such as this.

[saigon68]

7. They live a long time

I guess 30+ years