Despite decades of restrictions, wild capture of parrots for the pet trade continues illegally in many range countries, causing severe welfare harms across capture, transport, and export with mortality rates of 50-75% before sale.
Wild parrot capture for the pet trade is among the most acute welfare harms in the companion animal supply chain. The multi-stage journey from forest to consumer involves capture stress, confinement in inhumane conditions, death of the majority of birds taken, and then a lifetime in captivity for survivors who never adapt fully to the controlled environment. The scale of mortality built into the trade means that the welfare cost per successfully sold bird is a multiple of the visible animal — each pet parrot from the wild trade represents multiple dead animals. Captive breeding has reduced but not eliminated wild capture, partly because wild-caught birds are cheaper and some buyers prefer them for perceived authenticity.