A PARROT LOST IN THE CITY

Martha B. Armenta, president of Conrehabit

This particular parrot (Amazona albifrons) arrived to the wildlife association in the most unusual manner.
It showed up on the balcony of the president of the association known as Conrehabit four months ago. My balcony, actually. To everybody´s amazement, nobody could figure out how on earth a parrot would land exactly in a place where it would get protection. Its capture was easy since it was thirsty and starving after having been flying around the neighborhood for a couple of days. The neighbors reported that it came from a nearby store that sells honey on La Marina Avenue, in El Toreo. The owner had bought a parrot and it escaped. Four months have gone by and the parrot is in good health and scheduled for release once the veterinarians give him a bill of good health. The parrot was lucky it didn´t die torn to pieces in the mist nets that are commonly used by poachers. Perhaps they waited for the right moment to transport their precious cargo to Mazatlan.

It may have been luckier, and got transported to Mazatlán in a private vehicle, taking advantage of the moments when there isn´t so much surveillance on the highways checkpoints. The result is that it may have ended up at the Sunday market in Colonia Juarez.

According to local sources, there is a person in Concordia Sinaloa, in the mountains near Mazatlán that sells 50 parrots in every trip. He commonly uses taxi cabs, taking advantage of the fact that they don’t get stopped on a regular basis, or in pick up trucks. Once in Mazatlán, he arrives to a private home in the same area, where he will park his vehicle and walk to the market with a parrot on his shoulder, looking for potential clients. Once he finds someone who is interested enough, he will inform him that the parrots are at a place approximately 6 blocks away, asking the client to go along with him to where he keeps the “merchandise”, to finalize the operation.

This Lilac crowned parrot (Amazona fisnchi) was not so lucky and it died due to the stress from the transportation and poor handling. For every ten parrots that are captured, only two survive. The others suffer a cruel and unnecessary death. Some are beheaded while the poachers pull them out of the net, others lose their sight due to overcrowding conditions. They are confined to small spaces and they get no food or water until they reach their final destination. The parrot above died from starvation caused by the stress and to the fact that it was not fed for over a week. The cost of having a pet parrot extracted from the wild is very high.

Help protect the regional wildlife by not buying any parrots or macaws extracted from the wild. Sinaloa has no breeding facilities and there are no vendors authorized to sell parrots on the streets or in any veterinary store. The possession, transportation and commercialization of protected wildlife is a federal crime that carries hefty fines.

Conrehabit, A.C. www.conrehabit.com is a conservation and wildlife rehabilitation association formed by nationals and foreign residents almost 3 years ago. Recently, the association received a donation of 1 hectare of land located only 2 kms. East of Marina Mazatlan. Environmental Non-government organizations receive very little support from the Mexican government, therefore, the generous donations by tourists and local residents, together with a small grant from Global Greengrant Fund are vital to the association.

Plans are to take tourist and local school children on a guided tour of the property, which is in a pocket of dry forest still intact in the vicinity of Mazatlan.

Please call (669) 9142473, or (669) 9844307 for information or mail: Martha B. Armenta, president: info@conrehabit.com. Donations can be made via PayPal or directly at Farmacia and Cyber Café La Misión, across from the Hotel Pueblo Bonito on Camaron Sabalo Avenue in the tourist area called Zona Dorada.