Despite CITES restrictions, wild parrot capture continues in many countries, causing severe welfare harm to individual birds and threatening wild populations.
Wild parrots suffer profoundly throughout the capture and trade chain. Nest chicks are often physically extracted causing injury. Adult-caught birds experience terror during trapping. Transport conditions cause mortality from starvation, dehydration, and disease. Survivors may be secretly smuggled using inhumane concealment methods. Even birds that reach buyers alive carry lasting trauma from separation from social bonds. The welfare cost to each individual is extreme, and the population impact compounds individual suffering.