Where are heading most of wild caught African Grey Parrots? To Singapore. According to results of a study published in Oryx magazine, there have been 41 737 African Greys imported to Singapore legally between years 2005-2014. Aproximately a half of birds was wild caught. They came from eight African countries – Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Guinea, Ivory coast, Cameroon, Liberia and South Africa. Authors of the mentioned study believe that proportion of wild caught birds is much higher than 50%.
Besides birds from Democratic Republic of the Congo, all other were classified as captive bred birds. CITES allows to export wild-caught African Grey Parrots only from Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Congo and Cameroon. Traders can export five thousands individuals per year from the former country and three thousands from Congo. In the last decade, 18 344 birds were imported to Singapore from DRC. In total, DRC exported 86 744 wild-caught African Grey Parrots to 29 countries.
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Over 90% of wild-caught African Grey Parrots in Singapore came from DRC. Aproximately a half stayed in Singapore while the rest was exported to other countries. From all 41 737 birds which have been imported here, 31 529 parrots were exported again. In total, Singapore imported 225 561 birds of 212 species which are classified in CITES Appendix I and II. Authors of the study believe that Singapore is just a transit country and most of birds are exported to other countries like Thailand, Japan or United Arab Emirates ilegally.
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Parrots form most of traded birds in Singapore. Besides African Grey Parrots, there are also other frequently imported species like Quaker Parrots, Sun Conures, Senegal Parrots, Fischer’s Lovebirds, Masked Lovebirds, Eclectus, Yellow-bibbed Lories, Red Lories, Solomon Cockatoos, Jardine’s Parrots and Red-rumped Parrots. As for endangered species, import has been increased in species like Swift Parrots, White Cockatoos or White-bellied Caique. Authors of the study demand more intensive regulation of parrot imports. As example they point to an import of thousands of parrots from Solomons Islands in 2012 which were supposed to be captive bred birds but in real came from the wild.
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Title photo: (c) EAGLE Network