((PKG)) NON-HUMAN IMMIGRANTS
((Banner: Birds without Borders))
((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
We have one of at least half a dozen different parrot species that are wild in the L.A. area and that are the descendants of escaped pet birds. In the case of that particular species, it’s the Red-crowned Parrots, Amazona viridigenalis. In Spanish they’re called Loro Tamaulipecos because they come originally from northeastern Mexico from the state of Tamaulipas, where they are now endangered.
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
They were poached by the tens of thousands in the 70s and 80s for the pet trade in the U.S. They were just shipped across the border to Florida, to California and sold to people as pets.
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
A sufficient number of them got out that they started forming flocks in the East L.A. area starting in the 1980s.
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
The population has thrived and it seems to be increasing.
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
They are good at making habitat for themselves in major cities and this is what happened in Pasadena and East L.A. so these are birds that live pretty much exclusively off of trees that are also not native to our area.
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
Los Angeles is not like their original habitat but they’re one of those species that clearly has that flexibility that they can get used to different kinds of trees. They can get used to a different kinds of food sources
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
We have put up major buildings. We’ve put up expanses of concrete. We’ve introduced a completely different vegetation, and in many cases, that’s led to a reduction of biodiversity because a lot of our created habitat is not hospitable to the native species. But the other side of that is that we’ve created new ecological niches and new kinds of habitats.
((NATS))
((Ursula Heise, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles))
We could think about introducing endangered species here that no longer can find appropriate conditions in their original habitats but that might thrive here.
((NATS))
((Brad Shaffer, Professor of Conservation, University of California, Los Angeles))
Invasive species in a wild place, in a national park or other pristine areas, we should never encourage endangered species in those habitats. In a city, where everything is artificial anyhow, everything is managed anyhow, it’s a very different story.
((NATS))
((Brad Shaffer, Professor of Conservation, University of California, Los Angeles))
We can be much more creative and much more scientific about managing wildlife that’s in our cities. We do that all the time in zoos and wildlife parks and that sort of thing but, you know, a managed zoo population of a bunch of turtles swimming around in an aquarium, yes, we’ve kept a species from going extinct and that’s a good thing. That’s something positive and something I fully endorse. The best option is to have that species in its native habitat where it should be thriving. An intermediate one is that at least it’s living in the wild. It’s making its own living. It’s having the lifestyle that turtle or that parrot should have. It’s just doing it in a different place.
((NATS))
