Releasing Parrots
Due to the illegal pet trade, grey parrots are being poached from the wild. When confiscated by the authorities, parrots are rehabilitated before being released back into the wild.
The first lot of grey parrots was released in Kibale Forest in 2011. In 2023, another 58 greys were released in this area, and this is where the PTCA was involved in sidelining the release centre close to the original flyways of the native parrots being monitored.
Grey parrots from a rehabilitation center at Entebbe zoo and ready to be released at Kibale Forest, being welcomed by local authorities
The PTCA are the custodians of the feeding trees for the greys in the community. Because of this, the release team had to rely solely on the previous information collected on the feeding and flyways patterns by the association to determine where exactly to place the release centre so that the newly released parrots would easily find companions to move with and access food in the park and outside the community.
An enclosure established being demonstrated before Greys are set free back to their natural habitat
After the release, 56 greys made it back to the wild, and only two greys were returned to the rehabilitation centre. The ongoing monitoring by the Sunbird Hill team and the PTCA is following up on the welfare of the released parrots.
Interactions between the released parrots that are ringed and non-ringed parrots are closely observed during monitoring, which predicts the success of the released and resident parrots.