Newcastle Virus and Amazon Parrots
Smuggled Amazon Parrots Carry and Transmit the Deadly Newcastle Virus for More Than a Year
Exotic Newcastle disease can kill more than 90% of the birds it infects. Amazon Parrots, often the victims of international bird smugglers, are known to carry the virus.
Newcastle virus is endemic in some countries, but many countries don’t have the virus and will go to considerable lengths to avoid its introduction. They avoid it for a very good reason: a virulent strain of Newcastle virus (Rubulavirus), can rage through a poultry flock and kill more than 90% of the birds. In reality, the mortality is 100% because when exotic Newcastle disease is discovered, the entire flock must be culled and the facilities completely disinfected to ensure that the virus does not spread to other birds or other facilities.
Newcastle disease does its worst damage in poultry farms because of the large numbers of birds living closely together; however, the virus can infect wild and pet birds as well—any bird can be infected. Some birds will carry the virus for a long period of time without any sign of illness. These birds, however, are infectious to other birds and may frequently be the source of sporadic outbreaks.
Amazon parrots—parrots of the genus Amazona—are known to carry Rubulavirus for periods of longer than 400 days. This is a potential problem because Amazon parrots, the Yellow-headed Parrot and the Yellow-naped Parrot in particular, are frequently transported across international borders, without health checks, by bird smugglers. These birds are profitable for bird smuggling rings because they are beautiful and can be trained to mimic human speech: they are very popular pets.
Bird smuggling is thought to be second only to drug smuggling in terms of the revenue it generates for smugglers. So many parrots are being caught in the wild and transported to illegal markets that their wild populations are being decimated. During just one break-up of a bird smuggling ring by US officials in 1998, about 500 Amazon parrots were seized, including both Yellow-headed Parrots and Yellow-naped Parrots. Though even legal importation of wild parrots was banned in the US in 1992, staggering numbers of the birds are still being smuggled into the US and other countries. Any of them might carry the Newcastle virus and start an epidemic in susceptible birds.
Anyone considering purchasing a tropical bird should ask for proof that the bird was imported legally and that it has had appropriate health screening tests done.
Sources:
Michels, Ann. Parrot Smuggling Still a Global Problem. Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly. Fall 2002, 51:4
US Fish and Wildlife Service. Federal Agents Target Illegal Bird Trade. May, 1998.
Bird Shippers of America. Exotic Newcastle Disease Update. Aug 17, 2004.
