Parrot Blogger - Charlie Moores

– About Charlie –
Charlie Moores is an accomplished writer and photographer.

Read more »

February 23 2009

Interview: Dr Stewart Metz of the Indonesian Parrot Project

by Charlie Moores

An interview with the dedicated 'parrot doc' of Indonesia

 


dr stewat metz, indonesian parrot projectSTEWART METZ, MD - Director of Indonesian Parrot Project

Project Leader - Scientific Education, International Affairs & Grant Applications

Dr Stewart Metz has been a physician for 32 years, having served in capacities as a clinician, biomedical researcher, administrator, and teacher. He trained at Yale University (from which he graduated summa cum laude and Scholar of the House) and Yale Medical School, and was tenured Professor of Medicine at two major universities. He was Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and Head of the Diabetes Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is author or co-author of over 120 scientific publications, and uses his biomedical background to enhance both the Medical Initiative of the Seram Program, as well as the disease and laboratory testing aspects of the Wild Parrot Re-Release program.

He left the medical profession in 2001 out of a deep concern about the threat of extinction of some of the planet's most magnificent birds (especially the cockatoos of Indonesia), as well as the mistreatment of many of these creatures when sold into captivity.

Stewart is a frequent contributor to Companion Parrot Quarterly, PsittaScene, PARROTS Magazine and LaJoie.

 





indonesian parrot project banner

Project Bird Watch and Indonesian Parrot Project
(Banner by Sparkling Hearts Sanctuary LLC.
Flying Moluccan cockatoo photos courtesy of Andrew Bradnan)

 


Stewart, many thanks for talking to me. Can I ask first, did you always want to work with parrots, or have you just found yourself in the position you are and sometimes wonder how you got there

  • SM: I was in university-based Internal Medicine for about 29 years. During the last 10 -12 years of that, I became increasingly interested in animals in the wild—after my first exposure to parrots, I became intensely interested in, and devoted to these awesome creatures. However we as a species sometimes mistreat parrots in captivity (albeit usually not deliberately) and on rarer occasions subject them to a life [or a death] which could be considered torture — all on our watch and under our stewardship. It’s almost impossible to walk away from their plight after it is recognized. It was really only a matter of time until I had to change my ‘work’.

    I do often wonder “how” I got there in so far as making a decision that seemed almost never chosen by my colleagues — giving up a fairly-well-paying job, stability, and respect, for a volunteer position with little stability or ‘respect’ , at least by non-bird-people. But somehow, I know “this is why I’m here.”



 

You describe parrots as “awesome”. What makes you say that?

  • SM: The family of Parrots comprises creatures which are wondrous in their inherent traits. They are tremendously charismatic, often more so for the little-understood traits that most parrot-lovers don’t see, in addition to the “pet” qualities that endear them to so many people. Some of these less appreciated traits are scientifically the most fascinating - and so appeal to me as a former research scientist as well.

    For me parrots represent a blend of the scientific and humanistic—of science and of art; of objective study and of subjective fascination and appreciation—of the heart and the mind. As a doctor and animal lover, it’s the perfect combination.


 

I don't get to talk to the numbers of the general public that you do, but I get the impression that many/most non-birders view parrots in a very stereotypical way - that they 'talk', are colourful, make good pets etc. That they're almost not really 'birds'. Is that your impression?

  • SM: Yep, you’ve hit the nail on the head—I kinda sense some stereotype formation…


 

How do you go about changing that view when the media constantly re-enforces the stereotype by almost invariably showing parrots with 'owners' or in cages?

I think that the attitudes which would have to change would probably have to come in the classroom, and reinforced at home. Not in the deliberate sense of a course about parrots per se, but more to emphasize the unique, deeper, non-superficial traits which make parrots so charismatic to the parrot crowd (and this extends to some other bird families): intelligence, sentience, feelings, true communication (aside from “parroting’ of words)—all in contradistinction to focusing on their beauty, humor, parroting words, etc.

If the general public can champion the true wonder of parrots (and birds in general)--- if the AWE we express as children can be resurrected—if in essence, the ethical issue of dealing with treating inhumanely or even torturing intelligent creatures can be won, then there is a chance that we will take our blinders off and change our behaviour. And that the birds may make it to future generations.

 

Do you think there is sufficient understanding among birders about the problems facing the world's parrots?

  • SM: Nope and I sometimes sense that some birders feel that parrots already get too much attention and help. I think there’s even some jealousy over funding levels or the interest which parrots generate, as opposed to little brown birds, by non-PARROT birders. It is also true of most non-birders in general.

 




Three former bird trappers help the Author to micro-chip a Seram Cockatoo in preparation for release back into the Seram forest. Given such sustainable income these men stopped all trapping of cockatoos. Photo: Bonnie Zimmermann & Indonesian Parrot Project


 

You work in Indonesia which has many threatened parrot species. Is the greatest specific threat facing parrots in your region habitat destruction, climate change, or hunting and collection for the pet trade - or is it not possible or desirable to over-generalise: there are many reasons and each species is impacted differently...?

  • SM: Each species and even race is different quantitatively, but there are usually elements of both qualitatively - trade is perhaps more important than habitat loss for C. moluccensis; but deforestation possibly more so for C. sulphurea citronocristata.


 

Given your answer to the previous question are most threats to parrots in Indonesia deliberate or incidental - ie deliberate in the sense of collection, or incidental in the sense of habitat loss through things like forest clearance to grow food for people?

  • SM: Again, it varies quantitatively. For C. moluccensis, the trade is deliberate and needed to put food on the table. Habitat loss [eg, farming] is also incidental in some places, and is now encroaching even into national parks. Where forest is lost for the illegal hardwood trade to foreigners (eg, China, US, UK, Japan, etc), it is also deliberate in the sense of for-the-sake of income-producing. There are other minor deliberate factors—practicing hunting by children, etc.


 

Children practicing hunting by targeting parrots is a problem in Indonesia? That’s not something I’d ever considered before…

  • SM: Unfortunately, people have found ways to exploit parrots in ways unrelated to the trade in psittacids as pets. They have been used by youngsters for target and hunting practice (I have been told) - Citron-crested Cockatoos on Sumba Island are supposedly still shot on such occasions. Unfortunately the use of Indonesian (and parrots of other provenances] as hunting targets was not unknown in more “developed” countries. In the mid-19th Century, a mixed flock which included Salmon-crested Cockatoos and other Indonesian species were released into the British countryside where they soon became quite well-naturalized. However, a number of these fell prey to British huntsman—attracted no doubt to their beauty and also their exotic and rare natures.

    Additionally, parrots have been used as foodstuff in many regions of the world, especially during times of food shortage. Australians [including the explorer Cook himself] not uncommonly used them in “Parrot Pie”. Even earlier [16th Century ] explorers sometimes ate cockatoo meat. There is a long history of parrot feathers being used in decorative headdresses or other apparel or ceremonial banners. This is being recognized in New World Indian tribes. In the Indo-Australian region, Birds of Paradise feathers were far more valued in this regard than were parrots, but feathers from cockatoos, Pesquet’s Parrots, and lories/lorikeets are all used.


 

Am I right in saying that the villagers who trap parrots make very little money in comparison with the middle-men – the traffickers - who sell the birds out of Indonesia?

  • SM: Definitely. The trapper earns only USD$5-25 for selling a Salmon-crested cockatoo, whereas at each step in the smuggling chain after that, the price rises steeply during transport and marketing of the birds. And if they’re caught any fines or sentences imposed are small in relation to what they earn? It’s a win-win situation…

    Both the trappers and the middlemen rarely get more than a hand-slap, but the middlemen earn significant money. If the trapper “wins”, it’s not much—analogous to the situation re. illegal logging in Papua. I guess I am saying that it important to distinguish trapper from middleman or shipper from marketer from exporter.



 

What punishment do traffickers deserve?

  • SM: If by that you mean the forest trapper, I’d probably say none. If you mean the poachers and marketers who are profiting from selling the birds obtained due to the poverty of the trappers, the sentence need to be harsher - and include some jail time - and sentences must be enforced if the goal is to stop the illegal wild bird trade.



 

In your opinion can parrots ever legitimately be viewed as a 'resource' (eg as food, income for poor communities through sales to the pet trade, ecotourism)?

  • SM: They bring in money so I guess they could be called that. But of course I’d only favour “renewable” and humane resources like eco-tourism. In my ‘world’, this lets out trapping from the wild or eating . Obviously many disagree with such a ‘purist’ or one-sided view, ranging from trappers to dealers to parrot owners. In this schism, a major distinguishing feature between those that would utilize wild parrots as resource—and perhaps captive parrots as well—lies in the attention to self-interest relative to the amount of investment in the happiness and well-being of parrot(s). When I give talks concerning parrots or (of more frustration), when I am asked to give my opinion in a putative case of animal abuse involving parrots, I frequently hear the exuberant phrase used that “I really love Parrots!”. In my experience, it's those walking the extra mile [whether it be to put their parrots first even at the cost of some personal sacrifice or those who make a career of rescuing and helping parrots] who can legitimately say that they “love Parrots” [note the capital “P].

    Some others, however, might be more accurate to say they “love THEIR parrots”—as manifested by pride in the birds’ beauty, cleverness, talkative abilities, rarity and in places such as Indonesia, even illegality of Possession. However, more often than not, “loving Parrots” is not manifest in contributions to their welfare and in fact, exposure to evidence of the ugliness of the illegal trade in wild parrots such as in a slide show not infrequently leads to protestation.

 



starved to death - a cockatoo

This Salmon-crested Cockatoo was confiscated from a smuggler. The depths of the starvation inflicted is evidence by the marked distention of the keel bone and the dilatation of the crop; the intestine was filled with probable fungus and painted wood chips, which the starving bird had eaten. He died shortly thereafter. This is the true Face of the Illegal Wild Bird Market. Photo: S. Metz

 

On the legislative front, does CITES work, if not how could it be improved or what could improve on it?

  • SM: I’m not sure I know how to answer Part 1. However it is important to keep in mind that it is a regulatory agency with no enforcement capabilities. Therefore, much of their work is achievement on paper—work that requires others to carry it out. At times I believe they have come out in favour of a practical stance of “sustainable harvesting” of parrots in some cases—which is not always easy to agree with. Thus they are an organization balancing conservation needs vs. those of the local stakeholders.



 

So much to do with conservation does seem to be a balancing act. Given that, does your role require you to be more of a diplomat or politician than you expected or were you under no illusions from the outset?

  • SM: I expected it but it has really taken a lot of effort and learning to carry off this role—which I am not good at...



 

You sound a little disillusioned at times. Would you recommend a life as a full-time conservationist?

  • SM: Yes, if you want your life to involve working with/in some extraordinary animals/places and those animals and places inspire and move you and they are more important to you than material things and you have a good tolerance for frustration.
    No: if you lack the above...

    I admit that at times I am disillusioned by the snails’ pace of parrot conservation. In 2001, with the support of the World Parrot Trust, I attempted to put together a new organization to be called the World Parrot Welfare Alliance (WPWA). Many new parrot rescue and rehabilitation centers had been sprouting up (mostly in the US and UK) but for the person looking to donate or rescue a needy parrot, there was no common reference source available (ideally on the internet) to locate such centers, and to assess some basic information concerning the quality of care they delivered.

    After working on this Project for a year, I finally gave up—for the simple reason that only a tiny percentage of this rather large group of self-identified ‘Parrot Lovers’ actually were willing to donate even the modest amounts of time to carry out its activities, even when they identified the goals of the WPWA as being very important. ACTION will be sorely needed if we are to protect endangered parrots before it is too late.



 

I realised recently I had quite rigid personal views about eg keeping parrots in cages (I'm softening a little) and I wanted to learn more about parrots in general and challenge my own ideas - which is partly how this series of interviews came about: did you start out with rigid views of your own (not necessarily about keeping parrots in cages), do you still have them, are you more the sort of person who generally sees both sides of an argument, or given your experiences have you altered or softened your views?

  • SM: I started out both ignorant and open to keeping parrots in cages because I never thought about the issue and was not exposed to alternate views. I therefore studied up on parrots for 6 months, and went out to purchase a cockatoo—from a pet store. Now, assuming that I had the space and time, and if I were to bring home another parrot, it would have to be a “rescue parrot”, meaning that no additional parrot would be bred & raised to sit in a cage. And I would have to be willing and able to provide a substantial majority of things needed to at least improve the life of a parrot in captivity.

    IMO, parrots clearly do NOT morally belong in cages, whether bred in captivity or taken from the wild. But—absent the ability to reverse these trends, one can best focus on education and the most humane care achievable for those for whom any paradigm shift will come too late. My views therefore have strengthened, but I recognize that the ability to act on my “druthers” is limited.

 

I think I know what you’re going to say here, but I’ll ask anyway: is the answer to saving the world's parrots education, legislation, or both?

  • SM: Mostly education.

 

Given all that you know about parrots are you surprised to see so many of them endangered or not surprised at all?

  • SM: Not really surprised. They have some features not in their favour biologically, including their ‘k-select’ nature (I think that’s still the term used) as slow-reproducing altricial birds, which live until a ripe [and presumably effete] age.

    And we humans can’t resist trying to own (and thereby destroy) what we find to be special.

 

Which species are you expecting to see go extinct next, or are you (or do you have to be) remorselessly positive about the future?

  • SM: Looking at Indonesian parrots only—at least 2, perhaps 3, of the races—perhaps the whole species of C. sulphurea are very tenuous. There appear to be only 10 individuals left in the wild for one (C. sulphurea abbotti). Some lories Eos histrio, Lorius domicella are in trouble---I’m sure I’m forgetting some. Sadly, basic ecological data are limited or even solely absent for most. The status of the Buru parrots Tanygnathus graminius and C. toxopei is pretty much unknown

    The only way I can keep positive (and this was the same as it was in Medicine) is to try to focus on one bird at a time, and using that to amplify changes in attitudes. For example, releasing a cockatoo back into the wild has essentially zero effect on its conservation using population size as the variable. But from the point of view of promoting humane treatment (which is of major concern to us), that release back to the forest has caused “100%” conservation for THAT beleaguered bird. And when the children of the nearby village see how excited we get about the release, and that tourists will travel 5000+ miles to see these birds, hopefully that will promote Pride & Conservation through Awareness. Focus on each one as an individual, just as you would a patient with a disease.

 

You head up the Indonesian Parrot Trust, an organisation I have a huge amount of respect for. What projects are you working on now that you'd like readers to know about/support?

  • SM: 1. A new program is to try to conserve the Abbotti race of C. sulphurea (see photo below). There are only 10 individuals left in the wild; their habitat is mostly [ >90%] gone; and police and government officials still try to trade in these birds! There’s been essentially no work for these birds in a decade—in part due to their existence solely on a single, 5 km.² island deep in the Java Sea



    Caractua sulphurea abbottii
    2 of the 10 individual cockatoos (ie 20% of the world population) of the race C. sulphurea abbotti on the tiny island of Masakambing in the Java Sea. Photo by Dudi Nandika/ Konservasi Kalatua Indonesia and Indonesian Parrot Project.



    2. Our long-tern C-A-P Program (Conservation-Awareness-Pride) Program—alluded to above—to foster a paradigm shift in the way that schoolchildren perceive and respond to birds in general, and parrots specifically, by in-school and extra-curricular activities. The program is underway in both rural and urban sites.




 

And what do you feel has been your most important success so far?

  • SM: Building a Rehabilitation Center for parrots confiscated from the illegal wild bird care, providing the medical and nutritional support to help some of the rescued, and for a few others, carry out the first “soft-releases” of cockatoos and other parrots carried out (to my knowledge) in Indonesia.


 

Before we finish, Stewart, you’ve used two phrases in this interview that some people might raise their eyebrows at, as it were. You said that as a species we “mistreat, even torture parrots in captivity” and that “parrots clearly do NOT morally belong in cages”. You evidently choose your words carefully, but if you were asked to justify the use of “torture” and “morally” what would you say?

  • SM: I have used these descriptors deliberately, but I should clarify that words like “torture” only apply to the extremes cases, since to me the word implies deliberate and extreme mistreatment. For what kinds of mistreatment would I use the word “torture”? In the wild, it would include procedures often used to trap cockatoos.



    trapped salmon-crested cockatoo
    Trapping of a Salmon-crested Cockatoo.Photo by ProFauna Indonesia from a joint undercover investigation with the Indonesian Parrot Project.



    Trappers would put a live ‘decoy’ bird on a tree branch on which has been placed a snare, then smear the area with a vegetable-derived glue. The cries of the decoy attract a second bird, which becomes snared and caught. Its feather may be hacked off to prevent escape. It is then thrown into a bag or crate where for days it may languish, terrified, with little or no food or water.



    trapped salmon-crested cockatoo
    Shipping parrots from Ambon to the western provinces and bird market. It is bad enough that the Violet-necked Lories are packed so tightly together within the crate that food and water would not be accessible, and fright and other factors would take a toll. But equally bad is the fact that the lories (which are not protected under Indonesian law) are concealing a small ‘flock’ of Salmon-crested Cockatoos in an invisible inner compartment. Photo by ProFauna Indonesia from a joint undercover investigation with the Indonesian Parrot Project.


     


    Their treatment continues to be similarly appalling after reaching the infamous bird markets of Indonesia.

    But treatment of parrots can be appalling even in captivity and in the richer nations where poverty becomes an inappropriate ‘justification’ for mistreatment. There are many ways to abuse a parrot when it is a pet. An example is to maintain a parrot for decades inside a cage where it is not only unable to maintain most of the activities which define ‘parrot-ness’ (such as full use of its intelligence, foraging for food, ability to use powers of sight in darkness among many others) but to not even be able to extend its wings (no less fly). Is this “torture”? Centuries ago in France, prisoners were tortured by putting them in underground cages where there was no light or amenities; worse still, they couldn’t stand up but had to stay in a partial squat for years - until they died. These prisons were called “oubliettes”—from the verb oublier, 'to forget'. Sound familiar?


 

Horribly familiar, Stewart. Finally - as a change of tone - can I ask the obvious question: why should readers of this interview join your organisation?

  • SM: The only reason would be that they have a passionate love of these animals, recognize that we have tortured them throughout the centuries, and are looking for a way to learn a bit more about them in their natural state - and to provide an outlet for an obsession to give something BACK to creatures that have made our lives so much more fulfilling.


 

I know how busy you are right now, so thankyou very much indeed for your time and the care you’ve evidently taken with this interview.

  • SM: No problem at all!

 


For additional information about the Indonesian Parrot Project, see www.indonesian-parrot-project.org, or contact Dr Stewart Metz at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 


Opinions expressed by either party in this interview do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the World Parrot Trust, and are not necessarily supported or endorsed by WPT

 

Posted by Charlie Moores on 02/23 at 03:09 PM

CommentsComments:

Want to leave a comment? Become a WPT member.
Already a WPT member? Login to access the comment form.