Trapped and sold as pets, wild parrots at risk of dying out
ITS ability to mimic speech has seen it dubbed the Einstein of the bird world.
But the African grey parrot may soon be silenced – with the birds at risk of being wiped out, a shocking report has revealed.
Conservationists have warned that the parrot population, which is found West and Central African rainforests, has been reduced by up to 99 per cent in some areas, and is now classed as endangered.
Other animals under threat include the giraffe, with numbers down 40 per cent in the last three decades.
Experts say the popular species is ‘undergoing a silent extinction’, blaming the decline on loss of habitat to farming and development,
‘Undergoing a silent extinction’
illegal hunting for meat and trophies, and war in the African countries where it lives.
On the latest global Red List of Threatened Species, African grey parrots are among those classed as endangered
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature said the parrots, which are able to mimic human speech, have suffered due to being trapped for trade – particularly as pets. Between 1975 and 2013, up to 3.2million of the birds were captured.
A study in Ghana found that in 1991 the country’s parrot population numbered 30,000 to 80,000 – a ‘shadow’ of that seen previously.
But scientists have found that locations that in 1992 hosted between 700 and 1200 parrots are now home to fewer than ten. And in Kenya’s Kakamega forest, where the birds were also once a common sight, fewer than ten birds are thought to remain.
Trade in the parrots has been banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species. But study coauthor Professor Stuart Marsden, of Manchester Metropolitan University, said: ‘We can’t just say that because CITES has banned trade, everything’s going to be okay. It’s not – trade management is far from effective in many parts of its range.’
There are now 85,604 species assessed for the Red List, of which more than a quarter – 24,307 – are threatened with extinction, including giraffes.
While giraffe numbers in 1985 were between 151,000 and 163,000, in 2015 just 97,562 of the animals were left.