The second revision of the recovery plan for the Puerto Rican parrot, one of the most endangered birds in the world, is ready for public review, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said Wednesday.
FWS Regional Director Sam D. Hamilton said the updated plan would continue to focus on captive breeding of the endangered parrots for release into the wild..
“We continue working with the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), the U.S. Forest Service and the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust to increase the captive and wild populations of this majestic species,” Hamilton said in a statement.
Work to save the species dates back to 1968 but a formalized Puerto Rican parrot recovery plan was not implemented until 1987. The second revision of that plan specifically details the recovery goals that should be met to reclassify them from a major risk to a minor risk under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, the FWS official said.
The revised plan also outlines the estimated timeframe and costs of carrying out the recovery efforts.
The current wild population is estimated at fewer than five dozen – between 22 and 28 in El Yunque and another 22 to 28 in the Río Abajo State Forest in Arecibo. Fewer than 300 are in captivity in two breeding facilities near El Yunque and Río Abajo.
There were an estimated 1 million Puerto Rican parrots when Christopher Columbus reached the island 500 years ago. By the 1950s, however, the number had dwindled to just 200 or so, due to poisoning from insecticides on crops, predation by exotic species and loss of habitat.
The effort to breed the birds at a Luquillo aviary to boost the El Yunque wild population was dealt a heavy blow in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo churned across northeastern Puerto Rico and decimated the rainforest, killing half of the parrot population.
The DNER got involved in the recovery program in 1993, and established a new captive population in the Río Abajo area. The first of those aviary-bred birds were released into the wild in 2006.
http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=31843&ct_id=1
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