Eclectus in the Wild

ECLECTUS IN THE WILD

POACHING. On most of the islands in Indonesia the parrots, animals and plants are collected by some local peoples and sold to individuals who travel by boat or ship between islands, and collect these birds and other items which are then transported to the larger cities, such as Jakarta, where they are placed in holding facilities to be purchased by individuals who sell them or transport them to other countries, from Pakistan to India. Some ships may go directly to the Phillipines. 

HABITAT LOSS. For many birds and animals their very existence is threatened by the complete removal of their forests and fields as trees are removed for lumber or land is cleared for large plantations to grow crops such as palm oil or to raise cattle. The devastation is complete as there is no remaining environment to provide for living creatures, no trees or food remains. The wildlife is at total risk. 

COMPROMISED GENE POOLS. There are occasions when the authorities manage to catch poachers with wildlife. In the case of parrots, these birds are taken to government operated rehabilitation facilities where they are fed and vetted and prepared for return to their original location. However, one of the serious problems in these cases is that those who work with the parrots to rehabilitate them are often not knowledgeable about Eclectus subspecies which may have been mixed up by the poachers so that the rehabilitated parrots contain more than one subspecies. Then when the officials go to release these parrots, they can release the WRONG individuals into a location to which they do not belong. This is going to compromise the gene pool of that subspecies! 

Published photo of smuggled eclectus which authorities apprehended. A technique used by smugglers to transport parrots.