Notes from Bronx Zoo Trip: The Bird Trade

We saw an exhibit about the exotic bird trade and how parrots are caught in places like Belize and Brazil to be sold as pets. The exhibit said that 19 out of every 20 birds captured in the wild dies (i.e. only 1 out of 20 lives) due to stress, disease & temperature extremes experienced in transit. Dr. Sperling seemed to empathize with the people capturing the birds, stating that they are extremely poor. (Personally, I think they should be shot, along with the traffickers and the people who sell them in pet shops, AND the people who buy them...) I think they get paid something like $1 per bird by the traffickers. This is one of the reasons that many parrot species are endangered. An alternative offered by the exhibit was captive breeding. I have an idea: how about paying those people NOT to catch the birds and to report anyone who does?!?!