Addition of Blue-Fronted Amazon Parrots (Amazona aestiva) to the Approved List of Non-Captive-Bred Birds Under the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992

Andrea Gaski,
Chief, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Division of Management Authority, 4401 North Fairfax
Drive, Room 700, Arlington, Virginia 22203
703-358-2095.

Dear Ms. Gaski,

This letter is a response to Federal Register: January 8, 2003 Volume 68, Number 5; pages 1066-1067 in which is discussed the addition of Blue-Fronted Amazon Parrots (Amazona aestiva) from a Sustainable Use Management Plan in Argentina to the Approved List of Non-Captive-Bred Birds Under the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992.

The Avian Rescue Network, a consortium of Avian adoption programs, sanctuaries and individuals working to provide homes for countless unwanted parrots in our country, opposes the future importation of Blue-Fronted Amazon Parrots (Amazona aestiva xanthopteryx) [the subspecies found in Argentina] into the, already flooded, pet trade.

The importation of wild caught exotic birds was curtailed by the American government in the early 1980s to protect the survival of threatened species in the wild. An abundant domestic-born population of all species of commonly kept captive exotic birds (including this species of Amazon) now exists in the United States. It is more than sufficient to supply the desire for exotic birds as companion animals. In fact a quick search of the Internet shows there are so many captive parrots available that within the past five years a new industry, Avian Rescue, has come into being to provide care for the overabundance of these often unmanageable, destructive, or aggressive birds.

It is scientifically known that more species of flora and fauna have become extinct in the past 50 years than in the previous 65 million years. According to Worldwatch, the Washington DC based research institution, more than 12\% of all the birds in the world face extinction before the end of this 21st Century. In another recent study, scientists found that there was a 90 percent decline in the wild population of Yellow Nape Amazon (Amazona ochroceohala auropalliata) in the past thirty years. The Blue Front Amazon (Amazona aestiva) like most of his Amazon cousins is a CITES II endangered parrot. Worldwatch states that habitat destruction and loss is the main cause for the rapid decline of wild species. Hunting often follows this destruction. The trapping of the Blue Front Amazon directly follows this scenario.

While the United States took the moral high ground twenty five years ago in choosing to end the cruelty inherent in the importation of wild birds, many Asian and European countries still plunder the jungles and forests for grist for the pet-trade mill.

Blue-Fronted Amazon Parrots (Amazona aestiva) are overly represented in avian sanctuaries and adoption programs since many are prone to aggressiveness when they reach sexual maturity. Male Amazons are one of the two most overly represented birds in rescue today.
The only people interested in the purchase of wild caught birds are breeders seeking new blood lines. Since these birds cannot be re-released the argument of breeding for survival of the species is a moot point. Captive breeding ensures survival in an unnatural, captive environment.

The Avian Rescue Networks membership requests your assistance in allowing these birds to live freely in their native habitats. These birds are not domestic animals. Birds taken from the wild are not pets. Rather than encourage the plunder of the sky, please work to ensure the habitats of these birds and countless other species survive this new Century. Allow our childrens children to see these and other birds in the wild.