Smugglers Of Eclectus!?!

Never have I seen any articles relating to the smuggling of eclectus parrots.
I've seen images of cockatoos stuffed inside plastic bottles before...
but never eclectus. It hadn't even crossed my mind that anyone would want to smuggle them what with them seemingly being an obtainable non-endangered species. But I stumbled across this
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...otic-birds-out-of-indonesia-a3692911.html?amp
I know it's from late last year, but still, I never realised there was any interest in the smuggling of eclectus. It's got me thinking about all the species that must be smuggled all the time. I guess the media typically likes to just focus on the smuggling of endangered species - so that's what we usually read about. Those poor birds! How scared and confused they must be

That’s very sad... There are so many birds already in captivity, there’s no need for smuggling.

Violet_Diva said:

Never have I seen any articles relating to the smuggling of eclectus parrots.
I've seen images of cockatoos stuffed inside plastic bottles before...
but never eclectus. It hadn't even crossed my mind that anyone would want to smuggle them what with them seemingly being an obtainable non-endangered species. But I stumbled across this
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...otic-birds-out-of-indonesia-a3692911.html?amp
I know it's from late last year, but still, I never realised there was any interest in the smuggling of eclectus. It's got me thinking about all the species that must be smuggled all the time. I guess the media typically likes to just focus on the smuggling of endangered species - so that's what we usually read about. Those poor birds! How scared and confused they must be

Click to expand...

I think almost every parrot species barring the Budgie and Cockatiel have been trapped and traded , mostly locally but also internationally in the last 2 decades.

The Eclectus is not endangered but some subspecies could be rare and hence coveted by some fanciers over others.

Also in Indonesia, poverty in some islands are extreme and any parrot , common or rare can be a source of Income.

This is very upsetting to see. I can't even begin to imagine a bird-like ruby being stuffed into a tiny sweltering cage/pipe and be sent around the world, they are such social, intelligent and emotional creatures. It is a sickening example of the results of the exotic animal trade. I see that the smugglers were intercepted and I am hoping that the birds will be able to be released back into the wild. That is if they will survive after such a horrifying experience. A sad piece of reality, but one that must be shared for public awareness!

I posted about this a year or so ago, unfortunately I have volunteer experience pertaining to parrot smuggling, and yes, it happens every day, in multiple countries, with EVERY species of parrot, including cockatiels, budgies, canaries, finches, and everything else. Most parrots come from native countries that are very poor, or these poor countries are close to and have access to the native countries of these parrots, and they catch, pack and conceal, and ship these birds in massive quantities overseas, mostly to the US and the UK. It's terrible. They'll literally send hundreds of cockatoos or macaws in modified 2-liter soda bottles, which often deforms their beaks and wings, and at least 50% of them die, but that doesn't matter to them, they're making big bucks for sending the live ones to mass breeders/bird mills. It's disgusting.

FYI, any of the online bird stores that you often see, the ones where they sell many different species of parrots at one time, and say that "they are expecting" a certain species to "come-in" or "arrive" in a certain month or on a certain date, these are the places who are ordering babies from these bird-mills, whether they know that they are or not. Well, these online parrot stores and the places who sell fertilized eggs. It's just awful.

EllenD said:

I posted about this a year or so ago, unfortunately I have volunteer experience pertaining to parrot smuggling, and yes, it happens every day, in multiple countries, with EVERY species of parrot, including cockatiels, budgies, canaries, finches, and everything else.

Click to expand...

While some Wild budgies may be trapped in the wild to cater to niche "Bush budgie" breeders in Australia , I doubt if there is any international smuggling of Wild Budgies. I doubt if there will be any trapping of cockatiels because the Wild Grey type is identical to the captive Grey type, but cockatiels can occasionally be shot or poisoned because they attack crops.

Peach faced lovebirds, possibly the 3rd most common captive parrot is still trapped in their native Angola and Namibia but again primarily for local consumption but their downgrading from CITES 2 to CITES 3 is bad because other rare lovebirds like say Nyasa can be smuggled in the name of Peach faced.

smuggling is something that happens for any and all things that can be sold. All too often by people brought up being told governments are out to get them and that police are evil ETC ETC

these are the people who would sell their own children if it meant they got paid

Heartbreaking images. What kind of person could feel like doing that to birds is in any way, shape or form okay? They are obviously suffering.

It's downright cruel. Barbaric.

I'm glad the smugglers were caught, but I mourn for all the other birds whose smugglers have managed to evade the authorities.