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Defenders in Action: New Law Protects Parrots in Mexico
In a victory for the wild parrots of Mexico, President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa in October signed into law a bill that bans the capture and export of Mexican wild parrots. Defenders of Wildlife's Mexico office played a lead role in this action, issuing a report in 2007 on the wild parrot trade that received widespread press coverage and prompted the Mexican deputy chamber and senate to introduce and pass the bill.
The report, The Illegal Parrot Trade in Mexico: A Comprehensive Assessment, revealed for the first time that an estimated 65,000 to 78,500 wild parrots and macaws are captured illegally each year—with more than 75 percent of the birds dying before ever reaching a purchaser. Approximately 50,000 to 60,000 parrots die this way each year in Mexico alone.
"Current levels of trade in parrots are entirely unsustainable," says Juan Carlos Cantu, director of Defenders' Mexico office. "This bill is a vital step toward saving parrot species and will also help to safeguard the future of ecotourism in Mexico."
The United States has 85 million birdwatchers, and many of them travel to Mexico to see unique birds such as parrots. The country is home to 22 species of parrots and macaws—six of those found nowhere else in the world. But approximately 90 percent of all parrots and macaws found there are at risk, with 11 species considered endangered and five threatened.
Although this bill marks an immense victory for parrot conservation, there is still much work that needs to be done, Cantu notes. "We will continue to inform people of the new capture ban, but if wild parrots are to survive, people need to stop buying them for pets."
Defenders and Teyeliz, A.C., a Mexican conservation group that helped with the report, are also working on a binational education campaign to continue to address the problem.
To learn more about Defenders' work in Mexico and to read the
parrot trade report, visit www.defenders.org/mexico.
