Conservation Issues & Articles
World Parrot Trust-USA Golden Conure Survival Fund
We are just releasing a print of an original of the golden conures done by the world renowned artist Grant Hacking. For more information Avicultural Care & Nutritional Research Inc.
There are an estimated 60 million parrots in captivity in the United States. If every bird owner would donate just $1.00 for each of their parrots to a conservation fund, we could save all of the endangered species in the world. http://www.breedersblend.com/goldenconurefund.html is a great place to get started.
The Butchered Macaws of Bolivia
The grisly trade in animal parts is never a comfortable subject to
contemplate. At this very moment, in stores in Bolivia, pieces of
Macaws, other parrots and a wide range of unidentified birds lie neatly
piled in polythene packs, for sale to anyone who is sick enough to pay
for them. Wings, breasts and whole tails are hacked off birds and sold
as fashion accessories to adorn grotesque headdresses which are worn
during street festivals, carnivals and parades. These are not sold for
traditional use by indigenous peoples, these are worn by ordinary city
and town dwellers purely as decoration.
There can never be any excuse for such barbarism and the fact the
Bolivian government permits the continuation this utter cruelty and
waste of life is a damning indictment of its total disregard for
wildlife unfortunate enough to live within its boundaries. Bolivia is a
signatory to CITES and as such has pledged to protect wildlife and play
a positive role in the conservation of endangered species. The
government cannot plead ignorance to the ever popular and increasing
numbers of headdresses 'decorated' with wings and tails which are being
paraded in the streets at every opportunity.
All who profess to care about the future of parrots in the wild, should
register a protest with the Bolivian government and I would urge you to
flood their offices in a sea of complaints. A small selection of
photographs showing details of this horrific practice can be seen at: http://freespace.virgin.net/susan.armitage/BOL1.HTM
There is an e-mail link for you to mail your protest to - please use
it. We will be contacting CITES head offices and the World Wide Fund
for Nature to urge them to put pressure on the Bolivians. It may be
comparatively easy to stop the trade from the store mentioned, but it
will be far harder to prevent the same thing occurring again and again
throughout the country. Thousands of birds are being needlessly
slaughtered, how long will it be before there are none left? We cannot
guarantee getting any results, but if enough of you and your friends
'kick ass', we can certainly give them a hard enough time to make them
think hard about allowing this to continue.
Please pass this around to anyone and everyone you can think of - we
need numbers, thousands of them.
Dave Poole (November 1999)
Los Amigos de Las Aves
This letter is to introduce the Los Amigos de Las Aves, a not for
profit foundation located in Costa Rica whose purpose is to breed
Scarlet and Green Wing Macaws and reintroduce them into protected areas
of the Costa Rican rainforest.
Margot and Richard Frisius have been breeding Macaws for over 15 years
and now, as acting founders of this foundation, they have successfully
released Scarlet Macaws back into the wild in a private reserve called
Caru. Volunteers are needed at this reserve to monitor the birds and
keep records that will insure the success of this and future releases.
There is another release planned for a protected area called Tiskita
located on the Nicoya Peninsula. Volunteers are needed to help
establish the macaws into their new environment, acclimate them to the
foods found in the wild and keep accurate records to insure the
integrity of the release program. In both of the above mentioned
programs, training will be provided as well as room and board. These
are marvelous opportunities for a hands on experience while enjoying
all the beauty of the Costa Rican rainforest. A minimum commitment of 2
months is needed for both release programs.
Volunteers are also needed at the breeding center to help with the
daily care of the babies. The center is located in Rio Segundo, a quiet
suburb of San Jose with a great climate and easy access to the center
of town. Arrangements can be made for volunteers to stay with a Costa
Rican family and for a cost of $10.00 a day, food, board and laundry
services will be provided. This is a wonderful opportunity for someone
to live in Costa Rica, experience the local culture while at the same
time, learning Spanish and helping to repopulate the rain forest with
the macaws.
A real need exists for funds to support this program. We are seeking
dedicated bird clubs who would be willing to fund raise for us either
by directly soliciting funds or holding benefit events so that we can
carry on this very much needed work. The cost of maintaining the
breeding center is about $2500.00 a month and of course the release
programs are also in need of funds to continue. We rely totally on
private donations and appeal to those who truly care about the
dwindling macaw populations in the wild.
For more information about either the volunteer programs or possibly
raising funds for us, please contact Margot or Richard Frisius at Richmar@ticonet.co.cr
We thank you in advance for your support and concern and hopefully,
together, something concrete can be done about the disappearance of the
macaws from the wild.
Sincerely, Margot Frisius
Conservation in Aviculture?
Conservation is one of the current "in terms" used by governments and various agencies. Aviculture, as far as we are concerned, means the keeping and breeding of birds. How can we, as humble bird-keepers make a serious contribution to conservation? There are a few dedicated people who devote themselves to breeding and studying either a single species, or a group of closely related species. Sadly, most of us end up with fairly diverse collections. Mine consists of Amazons, some Africans and Eclectus. A few birds are produced each year, most of which are sold as hand-reared pets. We have two pairs of (currently) conservation-sensitive birds, which have yet to breed successfully. These birds are genetically non-existent. In terms of conservation my collection contributes nothing.
There are those who believe that the mere breeding of parrots such as African Greys and Amazons will reduce the number imported. There is very little evidence to support this belief. Aviculture has been one of the main reasons for the decline in certain wild parrot populations. Out of all the hundreds of thousands of wild parrots trapped and sold, how many have survived to breed? How many of those offspring are fit to be released into the wild? Captive-breeding, at present, only ensures that genetic material is maintained; in other words captive populations of endangered birds are maintained. Apart from a very few organisations such as Jersey Zoo, very little has been done in terms of reintroducing captive bred parrots back into their natural environment.
What natural environment? It is easy to blame "the natives" (as I have often heard) for loss of habitat in areas such as South America. The implication seems to be that these "natives" enjoy cutting down rainforests and ruining their own environments. This is a ridiculously patronising attitude. Countries such as Guyana (which exports Amazons and Macaws) and Nicaragua (currently exporting Amazons and other birds) are amongst the poorest on Earth. Brazil has immense financial problems. These countries are in debt to "western" financial organisations such as your bank and mine. They have very little choice but to exploit their natural resources. Many of the projects which cause deforestation in such places are funded, in part, by the UK government - Guyana and Belize for example. A USA-based banana company has cleared huge areas of Honduras.
Of course, I hear you say, "This is all politics, nothing to do with me". Well, we can all simply close our eyes.
It would be nice to think that, as caring aviculturalists, we would be interested in the environment our birds come from. For example, are you feeding bananas to your birds? Where were these bananas grown? Where did the mahogany that is part of your fitted kitchen come from? Does your bank lend money to countries which cannot even afford the interest repayments? Does your MP know what projects 'we' are supporting in places like Guyana?
If this is all too difficult, then we can simply carry on breeding a few birds, selling the young, buying a few more, moaning about the imports undercutting our prices ............ ad infinitum. But let us not delude outselves into thinking that it has anything to do with conservation.
DW January 1999
MACAW FEATHERS FOR PANAMA by
Susan Armitage
'Devil Dancers' of Panama
Readers will no doubt remember some time ago seeing my advertisements in various magazines for feathers from Macaw parrots which were to be sent to Panama to help save Macaws in the wild. This was in response to an appeal from Francisco Delgado, a citizen of that country. Several thousands of feathers have been sent to me in response to this and they were parcelled up and sent to Panama. The paperwork to do this legitimately was formidable and has recently become more so with the additional recent threat of charges being levied for export licences. Postage charges are also considerable.
I had been under the impression that these feathers were going to a remote Indian tribe in the jungle to be used by witch doctors in some ritual dance. This I can now tell you is far from the case. The dance is performed in the Herrera province on the S.W.Pacific coast of Panama by individuals of Spanish descent generally at religious carnivals in urban areas. The origins of the dance can be traced back to Spain and are possibly even pre-Christian.
The dancers come from a wide variety of backgrounds, the centre of this activity is in Chitre, fourth largest town of Panama and provincial capital of Herrera. They number around seventy and unfortunately seem to be on the increase.
Costume consists of "pyjamas " made up of red and black 20mm wide strips of cloth in a chevron pattern, an extremely elaborate papier mache mask and of course a head-dress consisting of ten to thirty Macaw tail feathers, red being the most highly prized. I estimate it would need at least five hundred hours' work to complete one of these outfits. Some are self made, others are made by professionals. Children also participate, usually using wing feathers. The tradition is deep rooted and well respected, locally and nationally.
There are no Macaws left in Panama except in the Darien province in the East. Those seeking new or replacement feathers have been going on illegal expeditions to Darien in order to get the Indians there to obtain feathers by, of course, killing Macaws. The feathers are usually kept in a cardboard tube and wiped with paraffin to deter moths when not in use. Francisco Delgado has come up with the solution of providing a "bank" of feathers available for hire, against a deposit, to bona fide dancers. Other tactics are an education programme for schoolchildren, use of goose and pheasant feathers and use of artificial substitutes. This hopefully will depress the scarcity value of feathers so deterring professional collectors.
Francisco himself is a Professor at Santiago University (Panama) and seems to spend all of his spare time and cash in a crusade to educate the population on the environmental situation in Panama. This he does by a daily radio programme, "expositions" and lectures.
A demonstration of this dancing was laid on for us specially at a private house. Seven dancers were there and a large number of onlookers to enjoy the spectacle and very convivial it was too. We were also able to visit a factory where amongst other things the masks were made by an extremely labour intensive process.
So far I have sent off approximately four thousand feathers, in batches in order to minimise any losses in the post, which he has received. We did not take any with us for (needless) fear of trouble with the customs.
For the future I have heard that Macaw feathers are used in dances at San Ignacio de Moxos in Bolivia, there is apparently a fiesta on the 31st July (El Machetero de Moxos). I intend to look into this and find out where the feathers come from and if I can, prevent macaw killing if it goes on.
South American fiestas can be pretty wild with drinking, dancing, games and music. If anyone is going or knows anything, I would be pleased to hear. A contact in Bolivia would be especially useful.
Please keep the feathers coming in, also any material you think may be useful in Francisco's "expositions" eg. posters as he has difficulty in obtaining such in Panama. Many thanks also to the people who have sent feathers over the years.
My address is :-
Tyr Ywen Farm
Mamhilad
Pontypool
GWENT, NP4 8TT, UK
Email:- susan.armitage@virgin.net
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