A wildlife smuggling seizure at Vienna Airport has led, 15 years later, to a new generation of one of Jamaica’s rare parrots. At Schönbrunn Zoo, three yellow-billed Amazon (Amazona collaria) chicks have been successfully raised by their parents for the first time.
Their story dates back to 2011, when Austrian customs officers seized 74 smuggled parrot eggs at Vienna Airport. The eggs were transferred to Schönbrunn, where yellow-billed Amazons and black-billed Amazons hatched from them. Among those birds were individuals that have now gone on to reproduce themselves.
“Over many years, a dramatic case of illegal wildlife trafficking has developed into an important conservation success. Thanks to the expertise and perseverance of our keeper team, we are not only able to successfully care for these demanding parrots, but now also to breed them. The fact that the yellow-billed Amazons have independently raised three chicks for the first time this year is a particularly important milestone for us,” explains Schönbrunn Zoo Director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck.
Europe’s only breeding pair in a zoo
The three chicks are particularly significant for the population in European zoological institutions. According to Schönbrunn, the yellow-billed Amazon is currently kept at only one other European zoo, Prague Zoo.
Schönbrunn holds the only breeding pair and is therefore, according to the Austrian zoo, currently the only zoological institution in Europe successfully breeding the species.
Endemic to Jamaica, the yellow-billed Amazon occurs in only two small areas of the island. Schönbrunn reports that the remaining wild population is estimated at no more than 15,000 individuals.
“Yellow-billed Amazons are experiencing rapid population declines. These are caused, among other things, by the loss of natural habitat, predation by invasive species and the effects of climate change. Especially in a species with such a small range, the destruction of its only natural habitat can very quickly have serious consequences,” says Eveline Dungl, head of the zoological department at Schönbrunn Zoo.
For this reason, the zoo stresses the importance of maintaining a stable population of the species under human care.
Fifteen years of work following the seizure
Successfully managing these sensitive parrots requires considerable experience. Schönbrunn particularly highlights the long-term work of Petra Stefan, the bird team leader who has cared for the parrots since the eggs were confiscated 15 years ago and has played a key role in reaching this milestone.
The yellow-billed Amazons are not the only descendants of the 2011 seizure currently growing at Schönbrunn. Four black-billed Amazon chicks are also being raised at the zoo.
Despite the successful outcome, Schönbrunn stresses that the story should not obscure the wider problem behind the birds’ arrival. Illegal wildlife trafficking remains a serious threat to Amazon parrots and many other species.
For these birds, a story that began with 74 eggs confiscated at Vienna Airport has taken 15 years to reach a very different milestone: a new generation successfully raised by its parents.
