Dear Aus-birders,
I know, of course, Macaws do not live in Australia, but as
Australia is the homeland for many large Parrot Species,
I do hope by this way to get into touch with people in
Australia, who know anything about ringing the large parrots.
The background is the following urgent message.
Best regards and thanks, Peter H. Them
e-mail:
-----Original Message-----
From: ec6 <>
To: <>
Date: 13. november 1998 18:11
Subject: Ringing decomissioned macaws URGENT
This is an urgent message from Armonia Association in
Bolivia:
19 Red Fronted Macaws (Ara rubrogenys) have just been
seized off traffickers in central Bolivia, thanks to the
vigilance of one of our members. This species is endemic
and higly threatened. The impact of the cage bird trade is
unknown but is very seriously and actively decimating the
remaining wild population of this species.
The same problem exists for other Threatened Bolivian
parrots and macaws, especially the Blue-throated macaw (Ara
glaucogularis).
Bolivia still lacks law enforcement techniques and capacity
to curb this on-going drain on native wildlife.
Asociacion Armonia is not an activist group, but because we
are a bird conservation NGO and are coordinating a
conservation programme for Ara glaucogularis among other
projects, we are very concerned by the current apathy and
incapacity of the Bolivian government on matters such as
these.
Armonia has now resolved to engage upon short and medium
term campaigns to the best of our ability and capacity to
face the trafficking problem, and force the government to
act. Our first step, agreed with the governmental
authorities, is to establish a register of captive and
decomissioned macaws.
We are therefore in urgent need of LEG RINGS for macaws,
and if possible the advice/participation of experienced
bird ringers to help Armonia and the Bolivian government
identify captive and recuperated birds. We are in search of
funds specifically to cover the costs involved.
On a longer term scale, we are in need of contact with
ANTI-TRAFFICKING CONSULTANTS to help us discuss
policies and implementation techniques with the Bolivian
government: they have no idea what to do and we do
not have the means by ourselves.
This is an emergency situation; Bolivia lacks facilities
such as proper recuperation or breeding centres, hence the
extreme importance of identifying captive and decomissioned
birds before they are filtered through to the trafficking
market. This is only a first step: it is our best idea for
the time being.
Please contact either myself (email as above) or Armonia
directly in Spanish if possible) if
you think you can help us or know someone else who can.
Thank you.
Alan J Hesse
Armonia President
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