Green-cheeked Amazon  (Amazona viridigenalis)

With a street value of between $900 and $1200 (3), the green-cheeked Amazon is massively exploited for the pet trade. As a beautiful bird, which talks occasionally, the green-cheeked Amazon is a popular pet and consequently thousands of chicks are taken from nests each year. Adding to this problem, poachers often fell or damage nesting trees, preventing their use in subsequent breeding seasons. With little else affecting their decline, the green-cheeked Amazon is an endangered species as a result of supplying humans with exotic pets (5).

Whilst protected under international law (Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and Mexican law (Nom 059), as well as occurring in two of Mexico’s Biosphere Reserves, poaching is still a massive problem. It is thought that awareness of the danger posed to this species is growing among rangers, but measures to halt its decline it have not yet been taken (5).

Proposed actions to prevent the extinction of this parrot in the wild include: monitoring populations to determine the extent of declines, identifying the highest nesting aggregations for immediate protection, and educating ranchers to halt poaching and regenerate the habitat (10).