Over 1,200 exotic African Grey Parrots have been seized from traffickers in Cameroon after 2 two shipments were intercepted by the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife in Douala International Airport.
The parrots were being illegally shipped to Bahrain and Mexico for the exotic pet trade, and are now being cared for by the Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC).

“As you can imagine it was pandemonium here when they all arrived, squashed into tiny crates, the live birds standing on top of their dead cage mates. It was a terrible scene” says Felix Lankester, Chief Veterinarian of LWC., that has now received 2 truckloads of the dying parrots.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), only limited numbers of parrots can be moved or traded.  In January 2007, the Animals Committee of CITES, the convention governing international trade in species, recommended a two-year ban from January 2007 on exports of African Grey Parrots Psittacus erithacus from five West African countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cameroon). Even with regulations in place, millions of wild birds find themselves stuffed in boxes or bags headed for the black market.

In 2006, Cameroon had a legal quota of birds that it could export. With the global outbreak of Avian Flu in 2007, all trading of birds was ceased. “The ban on the movement of birds has been lifted (although Cameroon’s quota for 2008 is zero birds), so the traders wanted to use up their 2006 quotas. So another trader organised the second shipment saying that he was using up his 2006 quota for 500 parrots. However, the shipment had 727 birds, not 500.” States Dr. Lankester.

The trade in bird species is banned in the USA but is still legal in Europe and elsewhere. “The African Grey Parrot is in decline due to a growing and highly lucrative harvest for the pet trade from West and Central Africa. The species may be threatened with extinction in its natural environment unless the trade is subject to strict enforcement,” says Dr. Emmanuel de Merode, CEO of WildlifeDirect.org.

The parrot family has more globally threatened species than any other bird family and the capture for pets is a primary cause of decline.

“This is a tragic story of wildlife being exploited for the international trade in exotic pets, one of the most lucrative illegal trades in the world. However, due to some diligent work by those responsible for implementing the wildlife laws of Cameroon, at least these birds have been saved. How many other shipments of birds make their way out of the country undetected we can only dread to imagine,” reports Dr. Lankester.

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