Humans have been sharing their homes with domesticated animals for millenia. But a darker side of the pet trade has exploded in recent times: exotic pets.
Cruelty and suffering is unavoidable in the catching or breeding, sale and ownership of these wild animals.
For African grey parrots, one of the most illegally trafficked birds, a life in captivity is a life of misery.
We're asking you to become a wildlife protector, by pledging not to buy wild animals as pets.
We know people often purchase exotic pets because they’re animal lovers. Animals bring joy to our lives, so it’s understandable that we’d want them to be part of our home.
Many exotic pet owners, however, are unaware of the daily suffering their animals endure.
We encourage everyone to appreciate and respect wild animals where they belong – in the wild. We should only share our homes with domesticated animals who’ve evolved over thousands of years to be our companions, and whose needs can be completely met as pets.
Ripped from the wild
Poachers use several dirty tricks to lure these intelligent birds into their traps.
Relying on parrots’ sociable nature, trappers use tied down ‘lure’ birds to draw wild birds down into large nets or onto tree branches coated with a powerful glue.
Trapped and distressed, the hunters brutally chop off their flight feathers so they won’t fly away and bundle them into cramped, crowded boxes.
Death in transit
After a long, arduous journey out of the jungle, the parrots are crammed into a larger shipping crate with dozens of other illegally captured birds.
66% of these parrots will die before even reaching the plane.
Because Turkish Airlines has failed to check these crates thoroughly for African grey parrots and other protected birds, these shipping crates end up on its planes destined for overseas.
Plummeting populations
Illegal poaching for the pet trade has decimated wild populations of African grey parrots by up to 99% in some areas.
If this demand continues, these amazing animals might disappear entirely from the wild.
A life of torture
African grey parrots are wild animals, not pets.
They are very intelligent and sociable, and are not suited for a solitary life in a cage or home. Many become so distressed and bored they pull their feathers out and become ill.
