ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) — Dominica is defending the decision to send two endemic birds to Germany as it moves to preserve the Sisserou Parrot (Amazona imperialis) and the Red Neck Jaco (Amazona arausiaca) following the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria last year.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Dr Reginald Thomas said 12 birds have been exported legally to Germany via St Lucia over the last weekend.

Dr Thomas, a veterinarian and former chief veterinary officer, said conservation may be done “incite or exito”, which means locally or externally, and that Dominica does not have either with the exception of the birds that are out in the wild exposed to the forces of nature.

He said the birds kept for display at the Botanic Gardens are not in a conservation programme since there are no protocols for the caring for or the management of the birds.

“The birds are kept at the health facility and fed. I have noticed many health issues with the birds kept at the facility, based on the feeding and other husbandry practices,” he said.

The senior government official said that arrangements were made with the German authorities, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, to get the required documents to allow the safe transfer.

“The birds will be kept in Germany at the facility of the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots for research into the breeding, particularly of the Sisserou as a back-up population, if in the event that the local population is to go extinct,” he said.

He said that before the birds were sent to Germany, the authorities contacted officials in St Lucia and St Vincent regarding the reputation of the organisation.

“They assured us that they have not had issues with their birds and they are not at all worried about extinction of their birds if they were to be impacted by a natural disaster, be it hurricane or volcanic eruption. I reviewed further the programme with the Brazilian Government,” he said.

Dr Thomas said it is important to preserve these birds before they go into extinction.

“After witnessing the devastating effects of hurricane Maria on the forest and the birds, and the impending upcoming of a more active hurricane season, it became evident that the birds, if left in the forest, would be impacted again and could possibly lead to extinction. There is no forest cover for the bird at present, [and so] we could not in all moral and ethical judgement allow the birds to remain in that state, hoping that they would survive,” he said.

“We have an obligation to mankind to protect the species that we have been given dominion over and make the best decisions so that succeeding generations can benefit from them. We are at the point of extinction with the Mountain Chicken with no other population anywhere for re-population.

“We were forced to change our national dish to accommodate the decline in the species, and if they really go out completely, we will have to consider removing it from the Coat of Arms this is what we are faced with, with the National Bird if it goes into extinction.”

The authorities said that apart from the hurricanes, Dominica is also threatened by volcanic eruptions and as such all measures must be put in place to protect the island’s biodiversity.

“These are the reasons why a decision was made for captive breeding. A lot has been said and it has been branded as smuggling of birds, but just to calm the concerns of the general public, there was no smuggling of the birds. The birds were moved utilising all the security measures necessary to ensure that the birds arrived safely to their destination,” Dr Thomas said.