Campaign against the parrot pet trade in the Dominican Republic

1. Campaign against the parrot pet trade in the Dominican Republic CROWDER-MESSERSMITH FUND/ AUDUBON NATURALIST SOCIETY

2. Our parrot • We have a very special bird in the Dominican Republic: Our parrot • Its scientific name is Amazona ventralis • Its an endemic species ( = only found in our island), this is why it’s called Hispaniolan Parrot. • Other islands in the Caribbean have their own species, ours is only found in our beautiful island of Quisqueya, shared btween the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Imagen tomada de Raffaele et al. (1998)

3. Before…. • Wild parrots were relatively common in our country until relatively recent times.   • Our parents and grandparents could easily see them overflying our fields and forests. • They crossed the sky in beautiful green flocks, at the time that we could hear their noisy and cheerful calls…

4. Healthy cacheo forest in Jaragua National Park Destroyed cacheo palm forest in Jaragua N Park Wood cutting in Sierra de Bahourico © Eladio Fernández 2007 Now… • But not anymore… • This is because humans have destroyed many of their habitats, that is their home, which is the forest…

5. Fatal attraction… • ...And we have imprisoned them to have as pets in our homes. • Unfortunately, people find it very appealing that they learn to repeat words, and Dominicans LOVE to have them captives in our homes as pets. • Sometimes we have them in cages, others free with their feather wings clipped.

6. ¡ Its Illegal ! • This however its banned under Dominican law. • The capture, sale, traffic and/ or possession of parrots its prohibited by the General Environment and Natural Resources Law No. 64-00.  • But the law is hardly enforced and the trade of parrots continues in the whole country. • Thus, every year, most of the nests layed, by parrots, even in national parks and reserves are poached and the fledglings sold throughout the country.

7. Pichón de cotorra con pocos días de nacido. ©Eladio Fernández 2007 Poor little ones… • This trade harms parrots very much because many of the stolen fledglings do not survive. • Most of them die within the first few days outside the nest or during transportation to the city. • Competition among parrot poachers is strong, and each time they take the fledglings sooner, sometimes without having feathers or even opened their eyes. • Its like separating a newborn baby from its mother.

8. Nido saqueado en Parque Nacional Jaragua Destroyed nest in Sierra de Bahourco. © Eladio Fernández 2007 No place to nest • Another problem caused by the parrot trade is that to take out the chicks, the nest cavities that they use every year are destroyed. • This reduces the possibility of nesting for many parrots, since there are not so many good nesting cavities available in their natural environment. • This cavities can be inside live or dead tree trunks, or even refuges inside rocky formations. Destroyed nest at Jaragua National Park.

9. Parrot incubating its eggs inside a palm nest in Jaragua National Park. Will our parrots dissappear? • When we remove most of the fledglings produced every year, parrots cannot maintain their wild populations, let along recover to previous levels. • Its is as if we removed from a human population all their newborn babies every year during many years.

10. It’s kidnapping ! • By having a parrot in our home, we are not allowing it to reproduce in its lifetime. • Even if we free it, this parrot will have a hard time adapting again to the wild. • This is because it did not have the parental care during which it learned the forest foods, where they are found, when, and how to eat them.

11. Impounded fledglings while being transported to the city. © Eladio Fernández 2007 You can help !! • If this trade continues, our parrots will dissappear within a few years. • If you truly love parrots and the environment of the Dominican Republic, help us in this campaign. • Don’t buy parrots or accept them as gifts, because you’ll be contributing to their extinction. • And spread the word: Help us take this message to as many people as possible and explain everyone the damage the pet parrot trade does… Many people simply don’t know.