AFRICAN GREY PARROTS

A national rescue and rehabilitation centre

RESCUE, REHABILITATION AND RELEASE

The LWC is the only specialist rescue and rehabilitation centre for African Grey Parrots in Cameroon. Since 2015 we have rescued more than 100 individuals from the illegal wildlife trade and more than 3,000 since the LWC began in 1993. Most parrots arrive in an extremely poor condition: dehydrated, riddled with parasites, injured and their feathers cut by poachers to prevent them from flying. They are in need of acute medical care!

Our aim is to rehabilitate confiscated African Grey Parrots to release them back into the wild as quickly as possible. As they have not flown for a long time, we need to help them to learn to fly again along with providing a good calcium-rich diet and quality veterinary care. But we cannot do this alone. Every parrot we receive needs health checks, veterinary treatment, a good diet and an enriching environment. In 2019 we built a large rehabilitation aviary specifically for this species and in the future we hope to undertake field research on released African Grey Parrots. Our aim is to fit trackers on the birds to measure survivorship, distribution and migration, and rate of recapture. Our goal is to work with current and new partners in order to undertake this important conservation project.

You can help us to get these endangered animals back to the wild by supporting the cost of their care today!

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Here’s what your donations could help us achieve

 

$10

Can pay for calcium and supplements for one parrots

 

 

$30

Can pay for a health check for one parrot

 

 

$60

Can pay for the care and food of one rescued parrot

 

Why African Grey Parrots?

African grey parrots are incredibly intelligent. They are also extremely sensitive, social, can express emotion and have an extraordinary ability to learn and imitate human speech. And it is these characteristics that have resulted in the species being a hugely desired candidate for a pet around the world. Sadly, this makes the African grey parrot one of the most traded birds worldwide.

These incredible animals are being illegally captured in Cameroon and elsewhere in the forests of equatorial Africa to be sold as pets. Every year thousands of individuals, mostly adults, are captured and sold at a rate so high that the total wild population could be reducing by 21% each year [1]! More than 1.3 million individuals were exported between the early 1980s – 2014, with perhaps some 100,000 birds per year being captured in Cameroon during the late 1990s and early 2000s [2]. The vast majority of captured African Grey Parrots die before export as they are extremely susceptible to stress when put into small cages and poor captive conditions.

In 2016, the African Grey Parrot was upgraded to the status of Endangered (IUCN) because the wild population is decreasing so rapidly. The species is now by law considered a Class A species, benefiting from the highest level of protection in Cameroon. This means it is now an offense to take African Grey Parrots from the wild.

Unless the demand for these animals stops, soon they will disappear from the forests forever!

[1] BirdLife International (2018) Species factsheet: Psittacus erithacus. [2] BirdLife International. 2017. Psittacus erithacus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T22724813A111471911

African Grey Parrots rescue, rehabilitation and release video