Michelle K

Thanks to your tremendous support our collective list of signatures for this petition has hit over 38,000! Well done! The World Parrot Trust has just issued a press release giving more details about this petition campaign, which you can view here: http://www.parrots.org/flyfree/pressrelease-cites-petition.html If you have any media contacts please feel free to encourage them to issue this release. Thanks again to everyone for your support! Michelle @ World Parrot Trust

Hi everyone, I happened upon this post because the World Parrot Trust recently initiated a campaign directly related to the trade in wild-caught African Grey Parrots, and I have been trying to spread the word through forums and groups whom have a particular affinity for the Greys. And while this thread is very old, it is still a great opportunity to clear up some of the discussion points. It is a sad fact that there are still 9,000 Greys a year being legally trapped and exported from two African countries (DRC and Congo Brazzaville), and many thousands more being trapped illegally. The methods shown in these videos remain the methods of choice. In 1992, the USA did stop importing wild Greys, so in that sense, American participation in creating markets for these birds did stop at that time. And the same can be said for the EU which stopped importing in 2007. Now the demand is coming from the Middle East and Asia. The petition launched last week by the World Parrot Trust was directed at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), who is meeting this week in Geneva and will decide whether to suspend trade in thousands of African Grey Parrots from Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the DR Congo, annual export quotas have been exceeded virtually every year. From 2005-2010, they exported an average of over 3,100 individuals in excess of their CITES approved quota. In Cameroon from 2000-2005, exports averaged over 3,700 birds in excess of their export quota. The World Parrot Trust is therefore urging the CITES Secretariat to recommend suspending all trade in these birds from Congo and Cameroon. If you would like to learn more about this latest petition effort by the WPT, please visit our FlyFree website at: http://www.parrots.org/flyfree/cites-petition.html And for information on the latest conservation efforts done by the WPT, visit: http://www.parrots.org All the best, Michelle @ World Parrot Trust

Friends, we need your help! URGENT PETITION: Tell CITES to suspend trade in African Grey Parrots! Next week in Switzerland (July 23, 2012), a small gathering of people who decide how wildlife can and can't be traded around the world (the CITES Standing Committee) will decide on the fate of thousands of wild African Grey Parrots. Please take a moment to sign the petition and let them know you are against such an action! Sign the petition: www.causes.com/citespetition Please share with your friends as well -- we have a very short time to stop this! Thanks for your support, Michelle @ World Parrot Trust www.parrots.org