Bangladesh, a signatory nation of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), has failed to control illegal bird trade and has recently been suspended from the convention. Data shows that Bangladesh has been importing several species of endangered birds from the international market to sell locally as pets. Of them, the great green macaw (Ara ambiguus), blue-throated macaw (Ara glaucogularis), hybrid macaws, military macaw (Ara militaris), red-crowned parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae) and golden parakeet (Guarouba guarouba) are some of the more common ones. CITES is an international agreement among nations to ensure that the international trade of wildlife, both flora and fauna, does not increase to a level that threatens their survival in nature. The convention categorizes the species into three lists — Appendices I, II and III — based on the level of threat. Appendix I includes flora and fauna species threatened with extinction globally. These species can only be traded for exceptional purposes, like education and research, and not commercially. Under Appendix II, the species are not immediately under the threat of extinction, but their trade needs to be controlled. Meanwhile, Appendix III includes the species that need the countries’ cooperation with each other for their sustainable existence in the wild. According to the CITES checklist, Bangladesh has imported most bird species declared in Appendices I and II in the last few years for pet trade. CITES observed in a notification that many birds traded in Bangladesh are prohibited from commercial use.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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