Illegally caught parrots?

[issy]

I just wanted to ask what you should do in a situation where you suspect that parrots have been caught from the wild.

Whenever I go to the Saturday markets I always see large numbers of Rainbow Lorikeets crammed in cages. They are being sold at ridiculously low prices for $20 a pair. I really doubt that the owner will spend all this much time and money on breeding them when they are selling for $10 a bird. I'm talking very large numbers, like over 30 in one cage and I doubt that you can get that much adults from breeding. None of the birds are leg banded or in very good condition.

The are also listed as babies when clearly they are adults well over a couple of years old, the people selling the birds also lie to get the birds sold. I herd them telling the buyers (who wanted a pair) that you can tell them apart by the size of their beak, which is bull crap because they can only be sexed by DNA or surgical testing. The Lorikeets will probably start fighting because they are the same sex and can kill each other when in the same cage.

I would have no problem with buying some of the Lorikeets and setting them free, but they will probably just catch more of them.

...
This is showing how clueless the stall owners are=
They had the following birds in the same cage:
- About 6 cockatiels
- A breeding pair of "ringnecks" being sold for $90, which is interesting because I'm 100% sure that they were Alexandrines which should be selling for $1000 a pair.
- And a male Electus parrot, listed as "Big Green bird" selling for $200, now I'm thinking what idiots. When a male Electus parrot sells for over $2000 here..
I'm not saying that any of the above parrots are wild caught.
...

So yeah, do I call an animal welfare league or can I call the police? Because it is a very big matter.

[notscaredtodance]

I don't deal with illegally caught parrots. But I highly suspect the birds (and small mamals) that we get at the pet store are from mills. By mills I don't mean the large scale horror stories that you hear about and see on PETA videos, but enough that they aren't pet quality, and are bred purely for numbers and profit.

This is why I will never ever buy an animal from a pet store. It doesn't matter how cute it is or how sad it looks. Of course my bird was an exception. She was going to be moved from my store to one 40 minutes away and she was already completely bonded to me, and hated everyone else. Of course long term I don't want a bird that won't tolerate people, but we have a truly special relationship that took 7 months to develop.

I work in retail but I'm not a salesperson. I let people know where our animals come from, if they're sick, if they bite, if they aren't social... I hate employees who sugar coat things just to make a sale. It's not good for the store's reputation, the customer, and especially not good for the animal.

Ideally I don't believe in pets. I think animals should be free. But I do have pets and I try to give them the best life possible, and not buy irresponsibly and keep bird/puppy/small animal mills in business.

So I congratulate you on not buying the birds in the cages to set them free, because ultimately it leads to more birds being captured because they think they are in high demand and get more. In saving 1 bird's life you ruin 2 more.
In regards to contacting someone, I don't know if you have a division of law enforcement that specifically deals with animals. If you do, they'd be the ones to call. If not, I'd go with the local animalwelfare group, who can probably get the message out more efficiently than a single complaint.