As we were driving to the airport on the last day, I was dismayed to see a man sitting in the street median selling endemic birds, obviously wild-caught. I was sitting in a taxi and trying to take pics through the traffic so these aren’t great shots but you can clearly see the little green birds on the left which are Grey-headed Lovebirds and there is at least one Vasa Parrot on the right. I don’t know what the laws are in Madagascar are, I tend to think it must be illegal otherwise I would have seen more such sellers. It’s so heartbreaking to see them like this when I just got back from seeing their cousins in the wild. These birds are probably being captured outside of parks that cater to birders that don’t have park rangers and tourists tramping through each day.
If anyone knows what authority I can send these pics to to help catch these people, please comment below. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the seller in the pics but a local Malagasy may recognize this location.
