In Puerto Rico, a Hopeful Sight: Endangered Parrot Spotted After Hurricane Maria
A couple of endangered Puerto Rican Parrots at an aviary in El Yunque rainforest, in Puerto Rico
Suzanne Gamboa writes for NBC news on the worry that endangered Puerto Rican Parrots may not have survived the storm.
Their habitat stripped of foIiage by Hurricane Maria, the parrots, both wild and those released after being bred in captivity, went quiet.
“Hurricane Maria seems to be a major setback for recovery of the parrot,” said Jafet Veléz-Valentín, a wildlife biology/aviculturalist for the Iguaca Aviary, formerly the Luquillo Aviary.
On Wednesday, 28 days after Maria, there was “a new hope,” as Veléz-Valentín described it in a string of texts from the island. Someone spotted a cotorra, the Spanish word for parrot, with a radio collar and an orange leg band in Barrio Caguitas in Aguas Buenas.
The person notified the aviary through Facebook. The collar and band mean the parrot is part of a population bred during the 2016 season, Veléz-Valentín said.
“One of our biologists, Gabriel Benítez Soto, contacted the person who saw and photographed the parrot,” he said, adding that another search is on in the forest and vicinity for more parrots.
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Before the hurricane, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had counted 56 to 60 parrots, the highest number of the parrots since 1967, thanks to a program to restore the species.
But then Irma hit and about 30 to 35 parrots were surveyed. Then came María.
A breeding population of 240 Puerto Rican Parrots in two aviaries were moved to safety before the hurricane; they all survived. They will produce more birds next year in captivity and later be introduced to the wild. Four wild Puerto Rican Parrots flew to the aviary after Hurricane Maria in search of food and have been staying in the surrounding area.
DONATION LINKS
Here’s some great agencies with aid-workers hard at work on the ground in PR right now:
You can donate right to the José Andrés’s Chef’s group at https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org
Hispanic Federation
Americares
Hurricane Maria Community Recovery Fund
Catholic Relief Services Hurricane Relief (Caribbean-wide)
Here is a GoFundMe we can get behind as well. To help those in the most need, celebrities and others started sending their private planes to pick up cancer patients, elderly, people needing medical care, etc.
More donation sites worthy of contributions. Thanks for posting them bfitzinAR
DK ACT BLUE (and other) DISASTER RELIEF DONATION LINKS:
Here’s a link from Bill McKibben for an org to help Puerto Rico:
From Vetwife, Former Presidents Working for All Americans:
Another choice, from Denise Oliver Velez:
- Unidos Fund, from the Hispanic Federation (After you click the orange DONATE button on the Unidos page, you’ll see a dropdown below your name & address. You can choose to donate to hurricane relief for PR, and also to Mexican earthquake relief.)
And of course, h/t TexMex:
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