On Friday, July 1st, Echo - a World Parrot Trust FlyFree partner - received an emergency call for help from STINAPA (Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire). Following a tipoff, STINAPA had seized a group of 112 parrots from an illegal trader. The birds are native to Bonaire and were believed to be bound for Curacao to be sold into the pet trade.
Many were close to perishing, and one had already died. Click here to watch a special video message.
With no time to spare, Echo staff began caring for the parrots - Yellow-shouldered Amazons (as shown on the left) and Brown-throated Conures - and worked through the night by lantern to try to save them. The birds were in a terrible state, and desperately needed feeding after being kept in appalling conditions and without food for several days. Out of the 112 birds about 90 babies now require one-on-one care.
The immediate need for these youngsters is hand-feeding formula. The team will attempt to foster some of the parrots into wild nests, but many of the chicks are very young and may have months to go before they are able to eat on their own. Intensive care is needed right now to help these birds survive.
The next few days will be critical for these birds. And this is where you come in: any support you can provide can make a difference to help get these parrots healthy and back into the wild where they belong. It is good to hear that the Parrot Society UK have donated a sum of £500 to this very important project.
You can help by donating to the cause see:
http://www.razoo.com/story/Savebonaireparrots