smartcybers786@gmail.com 
#Birds #learn #fly #Brazil #rehab #center #Wildlife
Seropédica, Brazil: Not a single wing flutters at the Seropedica aviary near Rio de Janeiro, where macaws and other parrots are learning to fly again after being rescued from traffickers.
Flight school for tropical birds: Parrots learn to fly at Brazilian rehabilitation center pic.twitter.com/edYK9i5Cey
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 26, 2017
Nearby, monkeys, turtles, boas and even crocodiles are being nursed back to health at the IBAMA Treatment Center, just 90 minutes from Rio.
The state-funded organization takes care of wild animals that have been hunted, injured or domesticated, rehabilitating them so they can return to their natural habitat.
Some parrots show signs of abuse, while others say “ola” (hello) repeatedly — a sign that they were domesticated.
To strengthen birds’ wings from years spent in cages, veterinarian Tasiana Sherlock exercises the animals by placing them on her arm and then shaking it up and down.
The brilliant blue and yellow aura she is training to spread her wings. Some of its feathers were clipped in captivity to limit its movement, and it doesn’t seem ready to shed on its own just yet.
Birds are also encouraged to fly using two wings spaced apart, with food on either side.
“It’s a flight school! We train them to be ready to live in the wild. We also have to train them to identify predators and find food,” explained the veterinarian.
– Clipping the wings –
Gradually, the IBAMA team — which hosts about 7,000 animals each year — removes contact with the birds until they become accustomed to humans.
They are then released into their native habitat, often a forest in another state such as Amazonia.
“What they’ve been through is really cruel, and it’s horrible to see them in such bad shape. But the reward is that they’re back in the wild. Look ready to come. Last week, we freed 20 auras and tokens to fly into Goya,” said Sherlock, a central state.
The sale of wild animals is banned, but the practice is widespread in Brazil, particularly in Rio, which is home to the world’s largest urban forest. Species that lived in the area still live nearby, and sometimes in the city.
Tokens, snakes and monkeys are common in some markets.
IBAMA estimates that around 38 million animals are caught in the wild each year. Four million of them have been sold, in an industry worth $2.57 billion.
Small birds generate the most income, especially songbirds.Caging a bird is a common practice in Rio’s working-class neighborhoods, and secret bird song competitions are common.
To facilitate sale for domestic consumption, some traffickers cut off part of the birds’ wings, or break some of their bones. Suffering paralyzes the birds, causing them to appear more domesticated.
Environmental police brought more than 300 small birds to the rehabilitation center in mid-July.
IBAMA colleague Roched Seba, founder of the Vida Libre Institute, pointed to dozens of small cages on the ground.
“Sometimes three of these birds are kept in each small box, so of course some don’t even survive the transport from the forest to the city,” said Seba, 31.
– learn to fly –
“In Brazil, we have the highest biodiversity in the world, but people don’t know animals and want to domesticate wild species. We need to change minds with better information.”
Seba often works with Sherlock and almost always brings an animal found in Rio whenever she comes to the Seropaedica Center.
But some animals will never live safely outside of captivity again. They have been bred to the point that if released, they will desperately seek human contact, only to be captured once again.
During AFP’s visit to the center, the raccoon was released after being found in a favela. The animal, probably a native of Rio’s tropical forest, was frightened, wounded and practically blind.
Seba admits that it will never be able to return to the wild.
A small green bird was following the vets everywhere.
“It’s learned to fly again here. It’s free to go but it stays with us all the time, so it’s become our mascot,” Seba said.
