Here in Hawaii we have dozens of native species now extinct, largely due to invasive species. Just a week ago I was at the Bishop museum and saw first hand the corpses of now EXTINCT birds.
Anyone will tell you I am a lover of Indian Ringnecks. However the choice is sometimes not IF we will protect birds, but WHICH birds will we protect? Relocation is not going to happen. You can lay out the reasons you believe it SHOULD happen, but it won't. I'm honestly shocked that such a large amount is being offered for the deaths! I can hear wild Ringnecks calling their evening calls as I type this, and the idea that the government is willing to pay SO MUCH for the death of an individual bird speaks to the gravity of the threat to the surrounding eco system.
But lets take a moment to think about the idea of relocation. I wish it could be done, but aside from the reasons already stated, there additional barriers. First, there are only two kinds of places the birds could be released; Native habitat, and non native habitat. Let's just assume we are not going to be silly enough to introduce them to non-native habitat, leaving us only with native habitat. Unlike some species, such as Scarlet Macaws, IRNs are not in decline in the wild. These guys are incredibly hardy, and there are huge populations of them on their native turf. Adding hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands? (how many of the IRNs running amuck in the world are we going to relocate?) of birds to an area where a population already exists is going to lead to horrible death by starvation and violence over turf. While it is distasteful and heartbreaking, is it not more humane to trap and kill a bird than it is to trap them, stress them, and then release them into a place where they will likely be killed by another bird or starve to death?
There is a partial solution that I wouldnt mind seeing brought about however, and that is trap and sale. Wild ringneck will not make good pets. However, mutations breeders use wild type greens to strengthen the genetics of their mutation lines, as the wild type green, especially one who has been subject to the laws of natural selection for generations such as a feral bird, are usually the most genetically sound. Perhaps SOME of the birds could be trapped and sold to hobbyists instead of destroyed.