We have told you before about the unfolding tragedy of African Grey parrots, one of the most intelligent and affectionate birds in the world. African Greys are being wiped out in the wild because of demand by the international pet trade. With your support today, we can help many of them!
So great is the danger of African Greys becoming extinct that they have been placed on CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Appendix 1, meaning they should be completely protected. Instead of being protected, an illegal trade is flourishing while loopholes allow a “legal” trade. The result is that African Greys are going the way of the dodo – dead and gone forever.
Unscrupulous breeders buy wild parrots on the black market and pass them off as captive-bred parrots. The trade is so pervasive that it has virtually wiped out African Greys from many African countries including Guinea, Rwanda and Burundi. The illegal trade is rife in the Congo where as many as 60 percent of the birds die during capture or soon after.
How is it possible that this is still going on despite being internationally restricted? Well, Friend, the trail leads to South Africa. The country exports more captive-bred African Greys per year than the rest of the world combined. It is certain that many of these birds are wild parrots, captured and sold illegally and passed off as captive-bred.
Because of poor law enforcement, nobody knows how many are sold illegally but police and animal lovers rescue them all the time. Parrots lucky enough to be rescued also face challenges because there are very few parrot sanctuaries in South Africa where they are truly safe…
One of the few is the Birds of Eden sanctuary, in Plettenberg Bay, which provides a safe haven for African Grey parrots that have been either confiscated from the trade or surrendered by owners.
In the past two months, Birds of Eden has been inundated with parrots, sometimes up to 17 at a time. This sanctuary is one of the few havens for African Greys in Africa, and 42 rescued parrots have found safety there. Without the work that Birds of Eden does, these and other parrots would probably disappear into the illegal trade to (assuming they have even survived) live unhappy lives in cages.
Birds of Eden is at maximum capacity and desperately needs to build a free-flight aviary. This is important to give African Greys some semblance of a normal life – one where they can live together in a flock and, at least, stretch their wings and fly.
The first step is getting the vital fencing that will enclose the structure, and we urgently need to raise $6,500 (£5,000) to achieve this. Once built, the birds will remain under the care of Birds of Eden and will not be traded or used for breeding.