Reducing Your Impact on Endangered Wildlife When Traveling

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Parrot poaching is a big deal. Especially for the Yellow-headed Amazon parrot (Amazona oratrix), a gorgeous species under serious threat of extinction in the world. Its numbers plummeted from 70,000 to 7,000 in the last two decades. Human encroachment on natural habitat fuels nest-robbing for an illegal pet trade. In Belize, some poached birds are sold on the international market, while others end up in homes or in businesses who want to add “color” to attract tourists.

That’s where you and I, as visitors to Belize, come in. It’s easy to make mistakes if you don’t know the guidelines (I speak from experience), so I asked Jerry Larder, Director of Belize Bird Rescue, a non-profit organization operating on a private reserve in western Belize, what travelers can do to discourage the illegal trade in parrots and other animals. Here are his recommended dos and donts:

*Never buy goods made from animal hides, skins, teeth or claws or exoskeletons such as bugs and corals. Some leather goods are okay but exotic ones normally are not.

*Do not have your photograph taken with captive indigenous wildlife. By encouraging the keepers of the wildlife, more will be taken from the wild.

*Do not patronize establishments with captive wildlife on display unless they are government sanctioned as a breeding or educational facility such as a zoo. There is no educational value of a single monkey or bird in a restaurant.

*Do not believe anyone that tells you that he ‘rescued’ an orphan animal or bird, unless they are licensed rescue facility. The vast majority of these animals were captured from the wild and / or bought from dealers. If people really want to rescue a bird or animal, they will turn them over to a proper rescue/rehab facility.

*The sad fact in the parrot world is 65 percent of all wild caught captive birds die before they reach sale. Upon sale to people who have no idea how to raise a baby parrot, the majority will die in their first year, or many grow up with leg, foot, or wing deformities due to malnutrition.

*Of the birds that survive their first year, over fifty percent will die before they are five years old due to cage conditions, disease, or stress.

*Anyone who buys a wild-caught parrot is condemning many more to death as the trade encourages more trade.

For more information:
Belize Audubon Society (BAS)
World Parrot Trust
Smithsonian Magazine article on wildlife trafficking

Photo courtesy of Belize Bird Rescue.