24 PARROTS SEIZED FROM SMUGGLER TAKE WING AT SOCAL PARROT IN JAMUL

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  A Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrot, by Charles J. Sharp, Sharp Photography, CC by SA 4.0

June 15, 2023 (Jamul) – Chirping at a Miami airport alerted authorities to a smuggler with 29 parrot eggs inside—including one that had just hatched. Two dozen of the eggs later hatched out, including 21 critically endangered Yellow-Naped Amazon parrots and three Red-Lored Amazons.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials seized the eggs and arrested a Taiwanese man who pleaded guilty to smuggling. The officials set up a make-shift incubator at the airport, later transporting hatchlings to the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation, which cared for the young birds initially.

Now, two months later, the fledgling flock is spreading its wings at SoCal Parrot in Jamul.

“Now we, as a facility that specializes in keeping parrots wild in large social flocks, are taking over their care. We have partnered with USFW and will continue to work closely with them to provide these birds with the best possible future under these unfortunate circumstances,” SoCal Parrot posted on Facebook.

The post continues, “As an organization, we have always advocated for all parrots living a wild, free life and we will continue to do so until people understand the harsh realities of purchasing parrots.”

An estimated 90% of wild parrot eggs are poached and sold on the black market, threatening the survival of these species.   Poaching, along with deforestation, has resulted in more than a 92% loss of the Yellow-Naped  Amazon parrots’ population in the past 30 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which has added the bird to its red list of species at critical risk of extinction.

The Yellow-Naped Amazons are native to southern Mexico and Central America, while the Red-Lored Amazons have habitat extended from eastern Mexico to Ecuador in South America.

SoCal Parrot founder Brooke Durham told ABC 10News, "They deserve a wild life.”

So far, the nonprofit is spending about $700 a week to feed these rescued parrots, and anticipates having to build more aviaries to house them.  10 News reports that while to her knowledge no birds rescued from smugglers have ever been reintroduced back into their native lands, Durham hopes this flock will be the first.

“It’s the dream,” she says. ”I want to see that more than anything.”

You can donate to help SoCal Parrot tend to their newfound flock at socalparrot.org.

                                                                                                                              Photo: Red-Lored Amazon Parrot, by Carlsonbl, GNU Free Documentation License