We’ve received a report from The Times in London that illegal wildlife traffickers in Argentina are bleaching the plumage of common parrots to enable them to sell them as a rarer and more valuable species.

According to wildlife groups, the Burrowing Parrot, or Patagonia Conure, a species commonly found in the country, is being captured in large numbers and dyed in order to give it the appearance of the much rarer Blue and Yellow Macaw, which can fetch at least double the price on the thriving black market – up to $530 (£320) each.

The Burrowing Parrot which has an olive green back, blue wings and a yellow belly with a red stain, is given a hydrogen peroxide bath to give it the appearance of the macaw, and is being sold at fairs as part of an illegal trade in exotic wildlife which is worth millions of dollars annually.

Liliana De Romano, head of the Familias Protectoras de Silvestres, (Association to Protect Wildlife), said the practice was driven by an “inhuman demand” for rare parrots. In Buenos Aires, fairs operated an unbridled trade in wildlife, despite animal protection laws, which she claimed were not adequately enforced. Vendors even sold the bleached parrots openly outside municipal buildings in the city, she added.

The Burrowing Parrot – also known as the Burrowing Parakeet – first achieved fame in the 1830s, when Charles Darwin wrote about it after encountering the birds in Patagonia, where they form the largest parrot colony in the world. To dealers, however, the Amazon species “are obviously worth much more”, Ms De Romano said.

Sadly, it sometimes doesn’t take long for buyers to realise that they’ve been duped, since careless bleaching can destroy the livers of the parrots, causing death within a month.  Those that do survive will reveal their true colours on molting, which takes place around a year after purchase.

Claudio Bertonatti, head of the Argentine Wildlife Foundation, says the practice is common. He referred to it as “a trap, a fraud”, contributing to an illegal trade, with poachers venturing into protected areas to capture young birds from their nests, and damaging their populations.

Trapping, together with loss of habitat and pest control measures, has resulted in a decline in the number of Burrowing Parrots in Argentina, and it has even disappeared in some areas of the country.

Parrots are amongst the most highly sought after pets in Argentina’s exotic animal trade, the value of which is estimated to be around $50 million annually. However Mr Bertonatti said he believed the true figure to be much higher, since Argentine authorities do not compile or release statistics.

Apart from buyers of these dyed parrots ending up with a fraud, Mr Bertonatti says that the Burrowing Parrot often carries psittacosis, a potentially deadly disease that can be transmitted to humans. “A person might buy a bird with the best of intentions, for compassion, because it is in a bad situation or it is cheap, without realising that not only are they stimulating an illegal trade, but that they can contract a fatal disease.”

www.timesonline.co.uk