60 Second Sell: World Parrot Trust
By Charlie • July 26, 2008 • 13 comments
Organisation: World Parrot Trust
The World Parrot Trust (WPT) works for the conservation and welfare of parrots, worldwide. Founded in 1989, the Trust has regional branches in North America (we are a US registered charity 501(c)), Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe; together they have aided the conservation of over 40 species of parrots in 22 countries.
Website:
http://www.parrots.org/
What do we do:
Of the more than 350 known species of parrots, nearly 100 are threatened in the wild. Popular as pets, many are captured for the wild bird trade or suffer from hunting or loss of habitat. Each species is an integral part of their environment and the extinction of even a single species is a sad and permanent loss to us all.
As a leader in parrot conservation and welfare, the World Parrot Trust works with parrot enthusiasts, researchers, local communities and government leaders to encourage effective solutions that protect parrots.
To do this, we focus on:
- Conducting and supporting field conservation projects
- Working to eliminate the international trade in wild caught parrots
- Increasing awareness of the plight of parrots, in the wild and in captivity.
Our latest work:
In recent years we have achieved remarkable and positive results in our efforts for parrot conservation and welfare; work made possible by the generous support of members and donors like you.
Recent efforts include successes in conservation, legislation and welfare work. In 2007 we witnessed the remarkable recovery of the Echo Parakeet (photo left), a species whose numbers had dwindled to only 12 individuals. WPT provided essential and long-term funding that resulted in Echo numbers climbing to over 300!
Also in 2007 we celebrated the culmination of 7 years of sustained effort that brought about the wild bird trade ban in the European Union – a legislative victory saving the lives of millions of individual birds each year. Most recently the Trust provided urgent funding and coordinated veterinary assistance for over 1000 confiscated African Grey Parrots in Cameroon; helping to ensure their safe return to the wild.
We are continuing the fight to stop the trade in wild caught birds with regional projects in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Cameroon, South Africa, Guyana, and Mexico. You can support these efforts directly by donating through this links:
Publications:
PsittaScene is the quarterly magazine published by the World Parrot Trust. Members receive a printed copy delivered as part of their subscription by post, and an electronic version is made available on the Trust’s website.
Each issue has regular updates on the work being carried out by the WPT, along with reports from the field.
The magazine also covers topics relating to bird behaviour in captivity, helping parrot owners to understand their complex companions.
For more information please go to www.parrots.org/index.php/ourpublication/psittascene/
Email Updates:
Would you like to receive monthly email updates all about parrots and the work we’re doing? Then subscribe to Flock Talk by visiting www.parrots.org/index.php/parrotnews/enewsletter.
Membership:
Membership of the World Parrot Trust costs from USD40 per year (depending on type of membership). Full details are available on the club website at www.parrots.org/index.php/becomeamember
60 Second Sell written by Charlie Moores from information provided by Steve Milpacher, Director of Business Development, World Parrot Trust
The ‘Saturday 60 Second Sell’ is a free and permanent space offered to any conservation organisation or group who would like to promote their work/activities etc to the thousands of visitors to this blog. Please contact Charlie (charlie - AT- 10000birds.com) if you would like to take part. There are no terms or conditions whatsoever (other than that we reserve the right to decide what gets posted on 10,000 Birds), but it would help us post the “sell” more quickly if you or your group could write it yourself following a format similar to the one above.
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Hi
That is a very nice blog you have got there. Good post on the World parrot trust.
Avin
I was interested to read this and to see the picture of your “Echo” Parrot. It looks identical to the Rose-ringed or Ring-necked Parakeet that is now occupying South Eastern England. I have several visiting my garden on a daily basis. If (?) this is the same bird, then we have them in thousands!
Hi Tricia. The birds we see in the UK are indeed Ring-necked Parakeets - they’re very closely-related but they’re definitely not the same species! The Echo Parakeet and the Ring-necked do look very similar, but they have different calls and female Echos have dark bills (female Ring-neckeds have pinky-red bills like the males). Ring-neckeds are originally from Asia and are very common in eg large Indian cities, whereas the Echo Parakeet is confined to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius where it’s very rare indeed. I was fortunate enough to take some photos of Echo Parakeet on Mauritius a few years ago and they’re on the blog at http://10000birds.com/mru13nov05htm.htm if you’re interested.
Hi Charlie and thanks for responding to my comment.
I’ve visited via your link and to say I’m green with envy is putting it mildly!! What a fantastic experience. Now that I’ve seen further pictures of the Echo Parrot I can see the differences quite clearly.
And to all of you at 10,000 Birds - I’m so glad I found my way here - thanks to you, Mike and Corey for such a fascinating site with so much information!
You’re welcome, Tricia. We’re thrilled you’ve stopped by and hope to hear more from you!
Hi Charlie
I am from Bangalore India and live close to Lalbagh.
My son is interested in having a green parrot at home and train it to speak. Is it legal to have one at home? What is your views of keeping a parrot safe at home?
If it is allowed are we to take any permission in India and which source should we buy it? Thanks
Hi Kumar
I’m afraid to say that I have no idea at all what the law in India is regarding keeping parrots, but - as you asked - I do have an opinion. Personally I think it is very wrong to take any wild bird and cage it. Other people may disagree with me, but I have seen Ring-necked Parakeets (your ‘green parrot’) many times in India and other countries and know their habits and lifestyles quite well. They are very sociable birds, used to living in flocks with others of their species, and are strong flyers - removing them to live alone in a cage without the possibility of flying again seems to me to be very cruel. The other problem is that it’s a well-known fact that many parrots die before they even reach the shops where they are sold: young birds are often caught by cutting down nesting-trees, adults are caught in traps, and all suffer great stress from being handled. The trade in wild birds is not something I would ever encourage and I would urge everyone who loves birds not to encourage it either.
I can understand the desire to keep a bird at home, but to me a wild parrot is a beautiful bird that deserves to be allowed to live its life in the trees - not live out a life of boredom in solitary confinement for our pleasure.
Parakeets are very common around Bangalore. Would it be possible instead to provide food for wild birds and get to see them close at hand instead? They are magnificent birds when the sunlight is on them - without expert care captive birds lose that glow and their colour fades. A great shame.
I have no idea whether this would help, but next time I’m in Bangalore I would be happy to meet your son and take him birdwatching and show him the wonders of nature myself…
All the best
Charlie
Kumar - I have to agree with everything Charlie has said. Even in the UK, a single parakeet sitting in a tree is constantly calling for others to join him, or locate others for him to join. They so obviously enjoy the company of their fellow species.
Please seriously consider Charlie’s suggestion about feeding them in the wild close to your home. Once there’s food then, according to my observations, they will continue to visit. How sad it would be, in my opinion, to see one of these beautiful birds being contained in a way that would be so unacceptable to them. To see a flock of them in flight is quite amazing!
My apologies for rather imposing my thoughts onto the 10,000 Birds site Charlie, but I felt I had to add my comments
Tricia, your thoughts and comments are very much appreciated and in no way are ‘imposed’. We’re genuinely always interested to hear what other birders/bird lovers think about what we write on the blog (especially if we’re writing on what some people might consider controversial issues), so please feel free to comment whenever and as often as you want to.
Cheers
Charlie
Dear Charlie,
I live in Bangalore, South India. I wanted to have African grey as pet in my home. What is your opinion about my thought? I read few articles about the intellegence and social mixup with the house owners. I understand that African greys can be wonderful pet. As per my experience goes with parrot, I had our Indian parrot as pet at home when I was a kid. It was a baby parrot where we hand fed him. We played with him and tought how to fly at home. After 8 months it was fully grown and was flying fully. And one day it flew from our home! It was wonderful. We were happy it went out happily. After 3 days it came to our back yard with its pair. We could recognise him and he could recognise us. But after some time it flew with its pair. What a nice experience.
I was wondering if I can have African grey as pet at home and have a good association with it.
Pls let me know what would be your advice on this.
Thanks and Warm Regards
Subhash
Dear Subhash
Thanks for your mail. I don’t think you’ll like my answer but as you asked the question I’ll give you my opinion. I wish with all my heart that us humans would stop taking intelligent, social birds like parrots and putting them in cages to make our lives ‘better’. There is misery in the pet trade, huge numbers of birds die in smuggling operations, and wild populations of parrot species like African Greys are plummeting. I would plead with you not to buy a pet bird. If you love birds and want to see them, go out into the parks, the hills round Bangalore, learn about birds, learn to treasure them, and understand that we don’t have the right to ‘own’ them.
That’s what I think, Subhash, the decision is yours of course.
Charlie
Dear Charlie,
Thanks for your reply. I will not buy birds as pet in my life. I truley understand the great concern about these exotic birds and also all the living creatures. Humans intervention in the nature and its destruction. I am an animal lover and I wish all animals and birds species to live in harmony and in plenty. I hope this will be my one little step towards love and affection showing to the animal kingdom by not buying the birds. I also recall one example how humans destroyed the nature to what extent. We had around 200 species of Elephants in south India that too near Mysore forest. Due to extensive poaching for the ivory, now we have only 2 kinds of elephant species. Its too sad. When buying stops even killing stops. Thank you for your kind reply. I will enjoy animals watching in the wild because thats their home.
Thanks and Warm Regards
Subhash
Dear Subhash
I am genuinely touched by your comment. Thankyou very much for considering the argument and coming to such a heart-warming conclusion. I know that NOT buying one bird won’t stop the cruel and wasteful trade in wild birds - but exactly as you say, until the buying stops the killing won’t.
Thanks again and best regards to you
Charlie