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| PAC has a primary motive
in aviculture; this is to conserve species of parrots in need
of help. With this in mind, we have developed a program to help
birds with shallow genetic representations in captivity. Our goal is to prevent their disappearing from aviculture and to preserve species that are in danger of extinction in the wild. If these species exist in Canada, we focus on controlling the genetic population to diversify the nucleus of bloodlines that are represented to best ensure the species' long-term survival. Acquiring birds that happen to surface in the private sector, avicultural or zoological community and introduce these individuals to ideal domestic breeding situations addresses this. Subsequently, we strongly encourage concentrating on species of birds that have difficulty raising their own young. The first species we included into the program was the Citron-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua citrinocristata). This species is in decline in the wild and hand fed Citrons do not seem to be inclined to breed. The achievement of parent raising many species of cockatoos is not easy. The gene pool of the Citron-crested Cockatoo is still very small and the Consortium needs more birds to sustain this species in Canada. Many pairs do not fledge their young, due to breeders not giving adequate conditions to satisfy the individual pair of birds. Another issue is some breeders do not give the parent birds opportunity to raise their own young when the eggs are continually removed for artificial incubation. This has become the trend with domestic breeding due to fear of losing the offspring to the parents mistakes. With many species of parrots, raising their young to full term can sometimes take upwards of 5 months. This is the best domestic environmental stimulation that can be offered to the birds to encourage constant activity and lack of boredom. Parent raised young make the most ideal future breeders! Another goal is to pinpoint species that are in most dire need of assistance to reproduce strong healthy genetic stock to replenish our existing stock. This also minimizes the demand on wild caught specimens. However, in certain situations, wild caught founding stock is also essential to a species' survival. PAC encourages members that are interested in this consortium to exchange these birds within PAC membership to create new domestic raised pairs for future breeding. This program has been exchanging parent raised chicks as well as hand fed chicks, which are introduced to a mixed flock of wild adults, and young parent fed birds. Several pairs made from this flock should in theory, begin to produce during the following few years after their early socialization. There have been nominations of new species and current commitments from aviculturists on the following species: Citron Cockatoo (Cacatua citrinocristata) Mollucan Cockatoo (Cacatua mollucensis) Yellow-shouldered Amazon (Amazona barbadensis) Jamaican Yellow-billed Amazon (Amazona collaria) Cuban Amazon (Amazona leucocephala) Yellow-headed Amazon (A.o.belizensis) commonly erred for Double Yellow-headed Amazon Illiger's Macaw (Propyrrhura maracana) Yellow-collared Macaw (Propyrrhura auricollis) Hawk-headed Parrot (Deroptyus accipitrunus) Slender-billed Conure (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) Austral Conure (Enicognathus ferrugineus) Red-throated Conure (Aratinga rubritorquis) Gray-headed Parrot (Poicephalus robustus suahelicus) -former Cape Parrot If you are interested in working with any species that may or may not be listed please contact your nearest PAC representative. |