An "African grey mafia" is
channeling thousands of wild
parrots from the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC)
through South Africa to
overseas pet markets and is
pushing the species towards
extinction, conservationists
warn.
Details of the underworld trade
emerged this week after
military police patrolling the
border between South Africa
and Mozambique confiscated
162 African grey parrots
stuffed into three small crates.
The smugglers, who were
carrying the crates on foot
during the night, escaped into
the bush after opening a fourth
crate and allowing 50-odd
birds to fly away.
Dries Pienaar, a Mbombelabased
representative of the
Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species
(Cites), said smugglers were
bringing the birds in from
neighbouring countries because
a moratorium had
recently been placed on direct
imports of African greys from
the DRC. "We've caught a lot of
parrots at the border posts and
in cars," he said, "but this was
the first time the army caught
them being smuggled in across
the border".
Cites implemented the moratorium
after 730 African greys
died on a flight from Johannesburg
to a bird dealer in Durban
in January. Interpol is investigating
the case.
Steve Boyes, the director of the
World Parrot Trust Africa and
Wild Bird Trust, said South
African bird breeders who
opened a pipeline for importing
parrots from the DRC in
the past decade had paved the
way for the African grey mafia
to smuggle the birds. He said
breeders needed wild caught
birds to supply lucrative
markets in Bahrain and the Far
East because captive bred birds
did not breed as well.
Official records showed the
DRC exported at least 13,000
African greys in 2009, more
than double its annual quota of
5,000. Boyes said the real
figures were likely to be much
higher.
"African greys are now the
third most abundant pet on
Earth, behind cats and dogs,"
he said. "The corollary of this
has been local extinctions in
Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, DRC,
Cameroon and many other
forest patches throughout their
range."
BirdLife International estimates
21% of the global African
grey population is harvested
out of the wild every year. The
organisation has asked Cites to
reclassify both African greys
and the Timneh grey parrot
from West Africa as endangered,
to place strict regulations
on the trade.
Richard Thomas, the communications
coordinator at Traffic
International, which monitors
wildlife trade, said the bird
trade to Europe had dropped
off after the H5N1 avian flu
scare and a ban on bird imports
into the European Union
in 2006.
"Today the main markets are in
Asia. Wildlife trade in general
has seen an increase, in a large
part because of rising affluence
in South-East and East Asia,
meaning birds are far more
affordable as pets."
channeling thousands of wild
parrots from the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC)
through South Africa to
overseas pet markets and is
pushing the species towards
extinction, conservationists
warn.
Details of the underworld trade
emerged this week after
military police patrolling the
border between South Africa
and Mozambique confiscated
162 African grey parrots
stuffed into three small crates.
The smugglers, who were
carrying the crates on foot
during the night, escaped into
the bush after opening a fourth
crate and allowing 50-odd
birds to fly away.
Dries Pienaar, a Mbombelabased
representative of the
Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species
(Cites), said smugglers were
bringing the birds in from
neighbouring countries because
a moratorium had
recently been placed on direct
imports of African greys from
the DRC. "We've caught a lot of
parrots at the border posts and
in cars," he said, "but this was
the first time the army caught
them being smuggled in across
the border".
Cites implemented the moratorium
after 730 African greys
died on a flight from Johannesburg
to a bird dealer in Durban
in January. Interpol is investigating
the case.
Steve Boyes, the director of the
World Parrot Trust Africa and
Wild Bird Trust, said South
African bird breeders who
opened a pipeline for importing
parrots from the DRC in
the past decade had paved the
way for the African grey mafia
to smuggle the birds. He said
breeders needed wild caught
birds to supply lucrative
markets in Bahrain and the Far
East because captive bred birds
did not breed as well.
Official records showed the
DRC exported at least 13,000
African greys in 2009, more
than double its annual quota of
5,000. Boyes said the real
figures were likely to be much
higher.
"African greys are now the
third most abundant pet on
Earth, behind cats and dogs,"
he said. "The corollary of this
has been local extinctions in
Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, DRC,
Cameroon and many other
forest patches throughout their
range."
BirdLife International estimates
21% of the global African
grey population is harvested
out of the wild every year. The
organisation has asked Cites to
reclassify both African greys
and the Timneh grey parrot
from West Africa as endangered,
to place strict regulations
on the trade.
Richard Thomas, the communications
coordinator at Traffic
International, which monitors
wildlife trade, said the bird
trade to Europe had dropped
off after the H5N1 avian flu
scare and a ban on bird imports
into the European Union
in 2006.
"Today the main markets are in
Asia. Wildlife trade in general
has seen an increase, in a large
part because of rising affluence
in South-East and East Asia,
meaning birds are far more
affordable as pets."
Bird Mafia Threatens African Greys
by Fiona Macleod
April 8, 2011
Reprinted with permission from Mail & Guardian Online and the author
Conservationists have asked Cites to
declare African grey parrots endangered,
which would afford those in
the wild protection.
declare African grey parrots endangered,
which would afford those in
the wild protection.
