Illegal parrot trade, how bad is it?

[Matt Alyk]

I have done some research on the illegal parrot trade, and can't bother but wonder, how much of it is true? Does anyone here have any personal knowledge on the severity? I know it happens, but is it as severe as the sources say it is?

[Pajarita]

Yes, it is. And despite the ban importing wild-caught into USA, it's still going on through the Mexican border.

[NICrosis]

I imagine capturing birds to not necessarily be evil. Rather, the way it is carried out. American Falconry is thriving, and many of the techniques used to capture falcons can probably be carried over. However, unlike the technique to capture a raptor where the bird becomes a friend to its captor and get regulated by the feds to make sure it isn't abused, poachers just try to get it done cheap and dirty to maximize their profits. Especially with the endangered species like the palm cockatoo.

[Matt Alyk]

The only place I have been where they had wild parrots was in Pergamino, Argentina. There was Quaker parakeets in the parks.

[Pajarita]

I disagree 100%, Nicrosis. Trapping a wild animal is always evil unless you are doing it to preserve the species and that does NOT mean breeding it for the human trade. It's not only evil because of the way it's done, it's evil because of the purpose.

Oh, Matt, what a shame you only saw the quakers! You should have been able to see other parrot species in Argentina if you had 'moved' a bit around. There are blue fronts, scaly nape and scaly head, red spectacle, vinaceous and blue-belly amazons as well as burrowing parrots, red-masked, blue crowned, nandays, austral, patagonian, green cheek, marooned belly, grey hooded and peach front conures and myriad others (these are at the top of my head).

[NICrosis]

I disagree 100%, Nicrosis. Trapping a wild animal is always evil unless you are doing it to preserve the species and that does NOT mean breeding it for the human trade. It's not only evil because of the way it's done, it's evil because of the purpose.

Oh, Matt, what a shame you only saw the quakers! You should have been able to see other parrot species in Argentina if you had 'moved' a bit around. There are blue fronts, scaly nape and scaly head, red spectacle, vinaceous and blue-belly amazons as well as burrowing parrots, red-masked, blue crowned, nandays, austral, patagonian, green cheek, marooned belly, grey hooded and peach front conures and myriad others (these are at the top of my head).

Falconry is a practice that far preceeds our existence Paj. We've used Falconry to assist in survival in the same way we used dogs and cats to hunt. I see absolutely nothing evil with capturing a young (insert raptor here [personally, I prefer the Steller sea eagle for this example]) and training it. Giving it a good life without fear of getting murdered accidentally, spending hours with it every day, and taking it out at least twice a week to hunt in its natural habitat. If the bird isn't happen, it will fly away. Falconry is not evil if done responsibly.

[Pajarita]

It is because it's not done for the bird's benefit but for our own. Given a choice of the life Nature evolved them to have and half a one as the object of human entertainment, which one do you think the bird will pick?

[liz]

I have stayed out of this thread. I don't want to read it or think about it. I am rescuing the ones I can and really don't know what else I can do to help the birds.
Without know what else was in the thread, National Geographic had an article on the illegal trade. Every time I think of it I see the cage that was so crammed full of young birds that some didn't even get their feet down. In that situation there was no way they were giving them food or water.
This hurts.