Purchasing issues, how does it go in your part of the world?

[Kitekeeper]

Hi all,

Purchasing an animal here in Brazil has some particularities that might not be familiar for most of you.

You can purchase an animal without too much difficulty if the animal is not a native species from Brazil. All domestic animals can be bought in circumstances ranging from amateur breeders to registered professional breeders. Of course price will vary mostly regarding how carefull the genetic lineage was reproduced.

Having said that, one can a buy a Budgie for 10 to 20 U$ Dollars and a lovebird for 30. Lovebirds from the long feather lineage can reach up to 60 dollars.

Birds from the brazilian fauna as Macaws, Amazons, Conures, Caiques etc. could only be bought from a registered breeder with a special permission. Of course this is something meant to stop animal traffic and this is a very good thing. Unfortunatelly government taxa are so high that the price of these birds reach impossible price to most of the common people. Amazons can reach up to 1000 U$ dollars.

So for a brazilian to have an Amazon or a Macaw for example, he or she must be rich. That in some way reduces the contact of people with their own fauna which eventually makes conservation strategies loose adherence.

If you rescue an injured native wild bird you might end up in jail for having it in your home!

How does it goes in your part of the world? Is it so restricitve as it is here, or more people-animal friendly?

 

[texsize]

The price you list for Amazon parrots is not out of line to the cost here in the US.
You are lucky to be allowed to own native species at all.
My in-laws live in Colombia and they were forced to give up parrots they owned for 30 years.

In the US it can be illegal to own native birds as pets depending on the state and species.
In California I know it’s illegal to have a raven as a pet.

Maybe you can look into an African Grey. They aren’t native and make great companion parrots.

 

[Kitekeeper]

Thank you texsize for the perspective.

I agree that Amazon prices here are not that different as they are in other parts of the world. Nevertheless I can not help to feel it somehow make this impossible for most people to have them. The thing is, people just disconnect from what they do not know or experience, so it is hard to bring the regular joe to care for conservation policies regarding native fauna.

In the past, 40 years ago, Amazons were just a natural companion found in many houses, we have hundreds of jokes in our culture where an Amazon is the protagonist...now episodes like the one you described in Colombia are common here too.

Anyway, it is nice to know it is not just "the way things are here"... which hints this might be a more complicated discussion.

I would love to meet an African grey, they have my admiration as they are among the parrots that can help us to understand bird intelligence most. Unfortunately they are so rare here that I have never met one personally.