Parrot trade

The international trade in parrots is a lucrative enterprise, and forms an important part of the international wildlife trade. As parrots have become increasingly endangered, many countries have placed restrictions on the trade and/or prohibited the trade altogether. Despite the restriction on trade in many countries however, the market still operates both legally and illegally.

Approximately 2,600 of the more than 9,600 species of birds in existence are subject to trade, and 20% of these species belong to the order Psittaciformes (parrots). In 2009, 3.9% of households in the United States owned birds, which equated to 11,199,000 pet birds in total, and 75% of these belonged to the Psittaciforme order.

The greatest number of parrots came from Latin American countries (mostly Guyana, Suriname and Argentina). The top bird exporting countries are:

The largest importers of parrots are:

Prior to 1992, the United States was the largest importer, but after the Wild Bird Conservation Act was passed in 1992, the European Union emerged as the leading importer. In the 2000-2003 period, the EU imported 2.8 million wild bird species, accounting for 93% of imports worldwide.

The chart below graphs the gross exports of true parrots, belonging to the family Psittacidae, a sub-taxa of the Psittaciformes order.

However, the statistics greatly underestimate the quantity of birds channeled into the pet trade. Mortalities that occur prior to export are excluded. An estimated 60% of the birds taken from the wild for trade may perish before reaching the market and many die in transport.

The Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA) was enacted on October 23, 1992 to protect exotic bird species from international trade. The Act maintains that wild-caught birds may only be imported into the United States if they are produced in accordance with service-approved management plans for sustainable use of the species. After the WBCA, the number of parrots imported in the US declined from over 100,000 annually to only hundreds annually.

The European Union placed a temporary ban on wild bird imports in October 2005 after imported birds died from the H5N1 bird flu. The ban was made permanent in 2007, allowing only captive-bred birds from approved countries to be imported.

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Wikipedia