I just received an email from Ainare at the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon who told me that just yesterday 14 wild-caught African Grey Parrots from Korup National Park were confiscated from a smuggler on his way to Nigeria.
Ainare writes, “At least, this time around, all of them arrived safely to the centre with no one dead on the transport and they are now in the stabilization period and we will have them fixed the feathers as soon as possible to start the rehabilitation process.”
Over the last few years, this primarily Primate rescue organization has taken on the care and rehabilitation of hundreds of wild-caught African Grey Parrots whose exportation has been intercepted (one such confiscation resulted in 503 parrots at once).
As of November 2012, LWC currently has these 14 new parrots, in addition to 37 remaining wild parrots from previous confiscations (these 37 parrots have had some problems with their feathering and four had broken wings).
If you can help Limbe Wildlife Centre help these parrots, please make a donation here.
THANK YOU!
Meet a few of the 14 arrivals. Ainare writes: “These are some pictures of the 14 new arrivals in stabilization period. I will send you more as we work on them.”
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- Free again.
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- …checking things out…
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- The parrots are taken to the release site.
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- A 25x4x3 m flight cage for the parrots. The cage is placed in the Botanic Garden just opposite the wildlife centre on the edge of the Bota Hill Forest. The cage has perches in each end and is covered by palm ferns on the sides to make the parrots feel safe. During the night we have a security guard on the spot, to make sure that the parrots will not get stolen. “World Parrot Trust” has paid the construction of the flight-cage.
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- “Yesterday we counted, selected and treated all the parrots that were confiscated in Douala Airport two and a half weeks ago. With 7 people we worked from 7am to 5pm, but in the end we had done all the parrots. There were many more birds than we had estimated! We now know that the total amount of parrots seized was 503. All of them were stuffed in 10 wooden boxes and arrived in terrible circumstances in the Limbe Wildlife Centre.”
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- “In order to treat the parrots for parasites and to assess their health each parrot has to be caught separately. A lot of the parrots are too skinny and have clipped wing feathers. The parrots in this shipment hardly had glue on their wings, which is something we have seen a lot in earlier parrot shipments. Parrots are often caught by applying glue into a basket and then placing a live parrot inside the basket. Other parrots then come to see what is happening and get stuck in the glue. On the other hand, this time we found a lot of birds with their feathers tied together, which is something we have not seen before.”
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- “In order to treat the parrots for parasites and to assess their health each parrot has to be caught separately. A lot of the parrots are too skinny and have clipped wing feathers. The parrots in this shipment hardly had glue on their wings, which is something we have seen a lot in earlier parrot shipments. Parrots are often caught by applying glue into a basket and then placing a live parrot inside the basket. Other parrots then come to see what is happening and get stuck in the glue. On the other hand, this time we found a lot of birds with their feathers tied together, which is something we have not seen before.”
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- Rescued parrots arrive in 2009: “Yesterday hundreds of parrots were rescued and transfered to the Limbe Wildlife Centre. They were confiscated at the Douala Airport, where they were kept prior to shipment out of the country. The illegal animal dealer has fled. The parrots were sitting in 10 crates, covered with lice, without food or water. By the time they arrived in the LWC 7 animals were dead and 4 more died soon after arrival.”
[…] I have received an update from Ainare about the 14 parrots which Limbe Wildlife Centre rescued back in November 2012. The birds were confiscated from a smuggler on his way to Nigeria and are currently being rehabbed at LWC . Ultimately, they will be released back into the wild. You can read the full story on For Parrots and see photos here. […]