Abstract
On December 10, 1986, the American Federation of
Aviculture proposed the establishment of a legitimized selfsustaining
population of thick-billed parrots in the United
States. The proposal is presently under consideration by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and AFA has great hopes for its
adoption. The proposal on AFA's part came mainly in
response to the uncertain status of thick-bills held in captivity
in the United States, some of which quite obviously
had entered this country illegally and some of which are
legitimate "pre-Act" birds or their offspring. The following
is the first portion of the proposal. Due to its length the full
proposal will be published in parts in consecutive issues of
the Watchbird. The purpose for publishing this proposal is
to demonstrate AFA's keen interest and concern for conservation
programs which it feels are, in light of the situation in
today's world of disappearing habitats and killing of avian
species as pests, synonymous with aviculture and necessary
in order to ensure the survival of many avian species. AFA
sincerely appreciates the interest of the U.S . Fish and
Wildlife Service in reviewing this program. Needless to say,
there are n umerous legal and technical issues which will
need to be resolved if and before such a program could be
adopted and implemented. While some of these issues are
difficult ones, AFA is committed to using its energy to find
their solution. This proposal not only offers the opportunity
to create a consortium for the breeding of an endangered
species and a vehicle for prevention of illicit trade in those
species, but also presents the unique opportunity for reestablishing
and sustaining a psittacine species in the wild in
the United States which, according to all reports, is currently
extinct in that range. The leadership of AFA is extremely
optimistic that this proposal could be one of the foremost
psittacine conservation projects in the history of the United
States.