Rene Ebersole’s investigation into the illegal parrot trade touches virtually every part of the African grey parrot ecosystem, from the clever birds flexing their vocabularies in viral videos to the unscrupulous traders who seem less than forthcoming about the origins of their animals. The illegal grey parrot trade doesn’t attract a ton of scrutiny; “it’s a low-risk, high-reward crime,” Ebersole told an interviewer. This story is different: Ebersole moves among a number of the trade’s high-profile players, getting them on the record and undercutting their stories with some impressive groundwork.
To understand the crisis facing African grey parrots, I traveled from poaching hot spots in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the twilight chatter of their flocks is growing quiet, to South Africa, the world’s largest exporter of captive-bred African greys. Wildlife-crime investigators have long suspected that birds snatched from the wild are laundered through the country’s legal export channels. Searching for clues, I tracked dozens of leads on the ground and teamed up with a Colorado scientist and a retired South African environmental-law-enforcement agent to test if an innovative forensic technique — analyzing parrots’ gut microbes — could reveal whether some parrot exporters are trafficking poached birds. In the glitzy United Arab Emirates, a major marketplace for greys, I visited dozens of pet shops catering to families who want their own talking bird. And in a Florida living room, I met an African grey who is trending on YouTube.
More surprising animal encounters
Venom in His Veins
“Bill Haast, the Florida man who tried to milk medical miracles from deadly snakes.”
Uncaged
“As wildlife advocates fight to free the last captives of Vietnam’s bile farms, rescued bears find dignity in the country’s sanctuaries.”
The Cat Who Woke Me Up
“Even though my brain is confused and I’m struggling, always struggling, to see if my writing is good, I still want to write. And the writing that matters the most to me isn’t about Alzheimer’s. It’s about a cat.”
This is the World’s Biggest Animal Migration
“Six million antelope storm through a pocket of Africa that’s nearly impossible to get to.”
Frankenstein’s Sheep
“Cloned and genetically modified animals are entering the black market, possibly forever altering our ecosystems.”
Consider the Hermit Crab
“You might think of them as cheap beach souvenirs. In fact, these tiny creatures have rich social lives and can live decades—and some humans are fighting to change their fate.”
