The yellow-headed parrot, Amazona oratrix
Defenders’ Mexico program director Juan Carlos Cantu and his colleague Elena Maria Sanchez at Mexican nonprofit organization Teyeliz A. C. were featured in PsittaScene Magazine, a quarterly publication of the World Parrot Trust, for their groundbreaking work to stop the illegal parrot trade. Through a multi-year campaign that incorporated both advocacy and public outreach, Defenders and Teyeliz have helped to drastically increase the number of reports of illegal trafficking while the overall number of animals seized has dropped significantly. Taken together, these data show that there is greater awareness of the problem and fewer parrots being illegally traded.
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In 2007 Defenders of Wildlife and Teyeliz A.C. released a comprehensive report on the illegal parrot trade which estimated that roughly 65,000 to 78,500 parrots and macaws are unlawfully captured annually. About 50,000 of them die from stress, disease, rough handling, crushing, asphyxiation or dehydration during capture and transport before reaching the consumer. In response to this crisis, Mexico placed a ban on trapping and trade of wild parrots in October of 2008 – and it’s working!
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