The Vale Zoo and Botanical Park (PZV) in the state of Pará recently received 44 baby birds needing a home. The parakeets and macaws were seized from an animal trafficker by Brazil’s environmental protection institute IBAMA in the municipality of Marabá, Pará.
The birds were transferred to the park, in the urban center of Carajás, in an IBAMA helicopter. Some initial care was administered at the PZV’s veterinary hospital and, immediately afterwards, the birds were housed in the zoo.
Many of the baby birds were in a dreadful state, some missing feathers or with their eyes shut, and all of them needed feeding. When they are old enough to be transported, Vale and IBAMA will send these birds to other competent institutions.
Preserving a symbol of Brazil
Some of the babies are golden parakeets (Guaruba guarouba), a symbol of Brazil with their green and yellow feathers – the colors of the country’s flag. International “red lists” of at-threat birds place them in the “endangered” category, and they are no longer found in some Brazilian states.