Worldwide, birds are being illegally caught and traded internationally for the pet trade.

Birds are the third most popular pets in the world. Most common among traded birds are parrots and song birds for their brightly colored feathers and their charming vocal abilities.

Although most birds available in the United States were bred in captivity, large numbers of wild-caught birds are smuggled into this country every year. Outside the U.S., the situation is still worse, with millions of birds sold in international trade each year. This international trade has had a devastating impact on wild populations of many species, particularly parrots.

As a result of this enormous global demand, and the high mortality rate in traded birds, parrots are the world’s most endangered family of birds. The destructive history of the parrot trade makes the rapidly growing trade in songbirds, like the painted bunting, particularly troubling. Without action to bring this emerging and potentially enormous trade under control, buntings, warblers and vireos could face a new and very serious threat.

In the United States, wild birds are protected from trade by the Endangered Species Act, the Wild Bird Conservation Act and other laws. Internationally, the single most important instrument for protecting birds is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which regulates global commerce in many types of birds and completely bans trade in the most endangered species.

Listing under CITES offers the most promising protections for imperiled bird species. CITES offers three levels of protections for species found in international trade. The highest level of protection, inclusion of the species on Appendix I, is highly restrictive and authorizes trade only in exceptional circumstances. To learn more, visit defenders.org