Into Earth or into Sky

2025-11-29 – 6:14 am

Dead birds.

Parrots dead on the floor of the flight cage.

Was it an epidemic?  On November 7th, three of our 102 parrots died at our Parrot Center in Kisangani. On the 10th another died and on the 11th three more.  We felt the Plague blowing at our door.

Parrots waiting for shipment in Trafficker’s holding cage.

We expect deaths to occur in birds rescued from the traffickers’ cages, still traumatized and dehydrated.  But most of these birds dying now at our Parrot Conservation Center (PCC) in Kisangani were hardy.  Banded at the end of June, they had no mortality during July, August or September.  Even in October, it was only the very last week that we had a first death in this first group.  What had changed?

You can help! We’re raising $2500 to help our parrots fly free again.

donate

Our three flight cages at the Parrot Conservation Center (PCC) in Kisangani are roomy, aerated and clean.

We called in the best veterinarian in Kisangani.  We treated with antibiotic, anti-helminth, we emptied the flight-cages and disinfected them, we put sand on the bottom to avoid any standing water or mud, we put in new perches…

The Parrot Caretakers with the veterinarian, Élysé.

Ben, one of the caretakers, sprays a flight cage with disinfectant.

Over 3 Weeks 24 Died.  Some thin at death, but not all. A few with diarrhea, but most not.

INTO the EARTH – dead birds are buried in a near-by forest plot.

The night guardian who stays by the cages would text Maurice, who manages the Center.  At five in the morning my phone would light up – and Maurice would be over for early coffee and then up to the Center.

Maurice is on the right (in gloves) during bird banding.

What really hurt the caretakers: many of the birds that died were nearly ready to fly.  These birds had come to us mutilated, with their wing feathers cut and tails plucked.  Over 4 months they had been growing new feathers, then suddenly they went from enthusiastic eating and parrot chatter to death in a matter of hours.

This dead bird had fully feathered wings and new pin feathers coming into its tail – nearly ready to fly.

In the midst of this distress, we got word from the Conservation Institute in Kinshasa (ICCN), an evaluation of all animal sanctuaries was to take place — immediately.  WHY NOW? Director Lucien Lokumu was coming to our CCP in Kisangani.

Lucien (on the right) with Leon Salumu, who went to pick him up at the airport.

Some sanctuaries are uniquely for Congo’s great apes, some take care of a diversity of other animals also rescued from illegal animal trade.  Our centers are dedicated to parrots confiscated from traffickers, we bring them back to flight capacity and we release them back to the wild. The illegal grey parrot trade in Congo is so big that we have opened centers in three provinces.  The oldest is Maniema where, over 2 ½  years, we have welcomed  543 parrots in need of rehabilitation and we have re-wilded  399 of these.

The PCC in Dingi, Maniema, has seven flight cages.

The day Lucien Lokumu came to the PCC, there were again 3 deaths at the parrot center.  He arrived to find 3 corpses.  Another parrot, weak and sitting on the ground alone, was put in isolation in a smaller cage. It died soon afterwards.

Parrot dead in isolation cage.

But the following day, the 18th of November, dawned with no mortality.  It was the day of the parrot release.  Despite the distress and disorientation of the deaths, we wanted Lucien to see the final objective of the Parrot Center.   

Lucien Lokumu (on the right) and the Minister’s Cabinet Director open the flight window.

There were eleven parrots whose feathers had regrown and whose tails were full.  These were capable of flight.  They were together in a single flight cage.

INTO the SKY —  three of the 11 take off.

All eleven flew. Even the one most habituated to people, flew.  We thought she might have been used as a decoy, tied to a branch so her distress calls would bring in wild birds to be caught on glue sticks.  She may have been with a poacher from a very young age.

She was hesitant to leave…. And the last to take off.

It was probably this parrot that came back the next day to eat food we left available on the open release window.  In fact, she decided to go in through the open window and spend the night in the familiar cage.  She chatted volubly with the parrots in the neighboring flight cages.   She (or is it “he”?) left early the next morning.

She came back to eat…and even spent the night.

Lucien was charmed.  We all were.  Seeing the parrots fly off, once-again freed, is a thrill.  Seeing them fly off while a plague haunts the cages was a tremendous relief.

The witnesses of the release – I am already peering into the sky for lingering parrots. The three caretakers are in front, Chimène, Stanie and Ben.

The caretakers and the night guardian watch for the released parrots.  Will they return?

Back for a day visit.

Spending the night near-by.

A parrot came back to talk with his compatriots in flight cage 2 – where they are still regrowing their feathers.  Then he flew off again.

Several parrots are still returning every day, but they don’t spend much time before they are off again. 

And what about the epidemic – now more than a week after Lucien’s visit?  There was a reprieve after the 19th of November – but then the 25th November, there was another death, and then another. 

Autopsy underway.  Instead of just burying the dead birds, we now do an autopsy and share the photos with Steven, the World Parrot Trust vet in Belgium.

Despite the deaths, there is little apparent illness.  Shared meals are enthusiastic and parrot chatter fills the clearing.

Now there seems another reprieve.  Is the plague lifting, moving out?

In the meantime: We are getting excellent advice on emergency measures, second opinions and better diagnostic options. We thank Steven Janssen (World Parrot Trust) for his on-line availability.  We also thank Élisé Kinzonzoli, veterinarian in Kisangani for his generous availability.  We will need you both more! 

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (0)

Caught on the Congo

2025-11-09 – 6:43 am

For Parrots, the Congo River is freedom’s flyway, and too often a tragic trap.

Even as far upstream as Kindu where we live, 2,360 river miles (about 3.800 km) from where the Congo rolls into the Atlantic, the river is wide, full of islands and confusing inlets.

Djey Amisi, the environment supervisor, or head game warden, in the town of Ubundu confiscated parrots on the Lualaba (upper Congo River) in June of this year. He knows there are more still out there, clandestine cargo hidden on dugouts and barges. 

Supervisor Djey, in June, when he brought parrots to the Parrot Conservation Center in Kisangani.

But the river is nearly impossible to control – too wide, too many ports and landings, too many dugouts, barges, fishermen.  You can’t put a barrier across the Lualaba like a checkpoint on a road, and the government doesn’t give its game wardens outboards to chase potential traffickers.

Leon Salumu, in charge of our investigation unit, is based in Kindu, about 300 km south of Ubundu.

Leon follows the social media networks of traders; he saw they were active on the Lualaba from a picture posted on the 30th of August with some cryptic references to small ports.

This blurry still taken from a WhatsApp video shows someone’s stocked parrots waiting for the trader, Medaillé, to retrieve them.

Leon told Supervisor Djey to be alert; Djey contacted one of the wardens he oversees, Inspector Dunga, in the port town of Lowa, half way between Kindu and Ubundu.

The traffickers’ main route from the south follows the Congo/Lualaba River through Lowa to Ubundu; then from Ubundu switches overland to kisangani, to avoid a series of river rapids.

Leon asked his informants, scattered in small villages and fishing camps along the river, to be on the watch.

Even at the old colonial port-town of Lowa, today’s dockage is small;  this is where Inspector Dunga is based.

The month of September was frustrating – tips came in, only to lead Dunga and his assistant warden to empty islands, or abandoned riverside camps.

A small landing on the Lualaba leads to a small riverside village.

Finally, in the second half of October, a tip led them to a dugout and they immediately heard the squawks and screeches of caged parrots. Unfortunately neither Dunga, nor his assistant has a camera on his phone to record what followed.

Both Dunga and the traffickers travel on the river in dugouts with paddles – like this one.

The traffickers, when accosted, were defiant.  They knew the parrots were illegal, but too valuable to lose. They clung to their two palm-slat cases of parrots.  Dunga, young and strong himself, finally managed to wrest one from them, the traffickers took off with the other case. They took off full speed, knowing they could out-paddle Dunga and the rather elderly assistant warden.

Two days later, fishermen informed Leon that the parrot poachers had hidden in a small fishing camp 17 km upstream from Lowa.  Leon contacted Djey;  together they decided that it would not work for Inspector Dunga and his assistant to go alone.  The traffickers would be even more combative than last time.  Dunga recruited some armed police officers to paddle with him, up to the traffickers’ camp.  It made the difference.

Police are only based in the largest port towns, like Lowa. Most of Lualaba has no security presence .

As soon as the dugout with policemen landed, the traffickers ran off leaving everything—including the second case of parrots.  The first case had 25 parrots and the second 20.

The palm-slat cases may be the best option for carrying parrots, considering the travel conditions, but it is important to give the parrots more room as soon as possible.

Inspector Dunga contacted us the next day, as soon as they got back to Lowa within telephone network connection. By phone transfer we sent enough Congolese Francs for Dunga to rent a motorized dugout and get the birds to Ubundu as quickly as possible.

Stany, our senior caretaker at the Parrot Conservation Center (PCC) in Kisangani, started the 132 km by motorbike to Ubundu to retrieve the Parrots.  He left just as Dunga, his assistant and the parrots were starting downstream to Ubundu, but road conditions were bad. By the time Stany got to Ubundu the parrots had been there for hours. 

Although the road is under repair, there are still long stretches that are slow, with crevasses hidden under floods .

In Ubundu, Stany met the Inspector Dunga (in red) and his assistant (far right), as well as the Warden Shadari (blue checkered pants), Djey’s assistant, who “hosted” the parrots for two nights. Stany in light blue in the center is next to his motorbike driver, in black.

The parrots arrived dehydrated, and needed two nights at Shardari’s house in Ubundu to recover.
Stany mixed antibiotic and a bit of sugar into their water.  He made sure they had high caloric value foods: sugar cane and palm nuts.

Dunga helps Stany prepare the medicine.

In Shadari’s house the parrots were given room to recover.

Stany wanted to get them to the Parrot Center, where there was veterinary care and a diverse diet as soon as possible. 
Three had died on the river trip from Lowa to Ubundu; Another died in Ubundu.
The parrots were divided between two motorbikes for the trip Ubundu-Kisangani. Stany took the biggest case and Warden Shadari had two smaller cases. 

Stany took the larger case, and Shadari the two smaller ones.

It took them more than 24 hours to get to Kisangani. Stany and Shardari stopped frequently to give the birds water and food.  Still, they lost one parrot before reaching Kisangani.

On the road they stopped frequently to provide the parrots with food and water.

Stany arrived in Kisangani with 41 parrots on Sunday morning.  He could not just take them straight to the Parrot Conservation Center (PCC).  Parrots are contraband.  They had to be registered at the environmental coordination and then officially handed over to the Conservation Institute (ICCN). We work directly with ICCN.

Maurice Emetshu, the PCC manager had warned the coordinator of the environment that the parrots would probably reach Kisangani Sunday morning, but on arrival the offices were empty, no one delegated authority and the Coordinator (top authority) was in Church.  Finally, after many phone calls and messages, he seemed to suggest that in the afternoon someone would be able to fill in the form, sign and put the necessary stamp over their signature.

Caretakers came from the PCC at the ZOO to care for the parrots, still in their travel cases.

Caretakers, Chimène and Ben, came down from the Parrot Conservation Center to feed the Lowa parrots in the parking area of the Coordination Offices. A truck offers shade.

Despite our frustrated, but polite, messages all afternoon, — more delay.  No one was given authority to sign off on the birds — usually a very simple matter.   Were we unwitting casualties of rivalry between the different administrations with which we have to deal?

Night fell without resolution. The only concession made for the parrots was that the door was unlocked and the travel cases shoved into the Coordinator’s conference room overnight.

The cases and their occupants in the morning at the Coordination of the Environment.

First thing in the morning:  The parrots had chewed their way out of cramped captivity.  The conference room was dotted with white droppings.  Unable to fly because of clipped wings they had climbed unto the cases, the backs of chairs and into a corner.  Two more were dead.

The remaining 39 were gotten to the Parrot Conservation Center fairly quickly, after appropriate diplomacy between Maurice, the ICCN provincial director and the Environmental Coordinator.

Arrival – finally – at the Parrot Conservation Center at the Zoo.

Two days later: Safeguards to speed the registration of future confiscations were written into an official Agreement, signed by all parties, and officialized over a shared evening drink at a popular Kisangani outdoor bar.

An Agreement is read, signed and made official with a glass of beer. The Coordinator is on the far right.

From now on, at least the last stage of Rescue operations should have fewer delays in Kisangani.  Progress is bit by bit.

XXXXXXXXXX

MY THANKS to John Hart for the very readable map he made to replace my confusing effort and all the other tweaks and suggestions. Smiles.

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (1)

Back to the Sky

2025-10-05 – 9:07 am

African Grey Parrots overhead.

Three hundred and ninety-nine African Grey Parrots have flown free, back to the sky, from our Parrot Conservation Center in Maniema province.  October first was the 12th liberation event.

On October 1, 2025, fifty birds flew free. Above are the first moments after opening the first cage with rehabilitated birds.

Lukuru Foundation’s parrot project has built two additional parrot centers, one in Tshopo province and one in Sankuru province.

There are now three flight cages at the Tshopo Parrot Center, built on property belonging to the Kisangani Zoo.

In all Centers together there are now 357 African Grey Parrots waiting for freedom…Waiting to be able to fly again. 

African Greys regaining flight capacity in a flight-cage at the Tshopo Center.

But usually that is a long wait — with many steps — some quite perilous. The most dangerous step is the first one.

Step 1: Confiscation from the parrot trade.  Seizing the parrots from the trade and moving them to one of the parrot centers is logistically difficult and risky for the parrots.

A seizure made at night of parrots being clandestinely transported by motorcycle.

But, by far, the greatest brutality is the capture itself: before morning light, a poacher ties a living decoy bird high in a tree; he then fixes glue-sticks all around it; he then waits through the morning. Curious wild parrots fly in, answering the calls of their fellow parrot tethered to the branch.

A climber with his decoy parrot heading towards a capture site.

A poacher climbs a parrot-roosting tree using lianas.

The parrots that survive the tumble to the ground have their glue covered feathers hacked off with a machete or large knife.  Often, while collecting parrots and waiting for a transporter to buy them, the captor will pull out the red tail feathers for local trade as status symbols.

A seriously damaged wing of a recently arrived parrot. Both primaries and secondaries appear to have been plucked.

Clandestine video taken in a village kitchen where parrots await trader. The motor noise is a small rice huller just outside.

Before a transporter comes to buy them from the poacher, the parrots are kept in deplorable conditions.  Here in Maniema, the parrot-transporter will pay approximately $10 per captured bird.

A poacher’s holding pen in the village of Bikenge. Warning, the video is disturbing.

Sometimes an informant tells us of parrots being held or transported, but sometimes authorities contact us after a confiscation. In our most recent parrot confiscation, the military colonel responsible for the Pennemukwala check-point called after arresting the transporter and seizing the parrots.

Above, a typical check-point. Our agent, Dieu-Merci, is distributing a plasticized copy of the new parrot law earlier this year.

After his arrest, as soon as he could, the transporter called his bosses up the trade chain.  A reliable transporter, willing to carry illegal parrots, is an essential link in the chain.  Eventually several thousand U.S.dollars were sent to corrupt the territorial administrator.   Fortunately, by that time, an important judicial authority was already involved and the administrator was unable to release the transporter.

The army colonel gave the parrots free range in a room of his house, providing food and water until we could arrive to bring the birds back to Kindu.

The trip to Kindu took two days.  Sixty-nine African Greys from the Penemukwala check-point arrived after three died during the trip.

Parrots almost always arrive at our centers after a long ride in a locally-made cage on the back of a motor bike.

Step 2: Stabilization. Newly arrived birds are dehydrated, thin and stressed.   
After the 69 parrots arrived in Kindu for stabilization, three more died over the next few days.  Now there are 66.

At our Tshopo Center newly arrived parrots are put into small “stabilization” cages.

They are given a viamin mix and antibiotic in their drinking water and their diet is diversified immediately: paypaya with its seeds, pineapple, Cassia fruits are added to the limited diet they received from the traders that, at best, included peanuts, sugarcane and palmnuts.

When the birds eat and drink soon after arrival, we are reassured that they are more likely to recover.

We provide a diversity of foods soon after their arrival.

As soon as they are eating well and stable,  the birds are banded so we can follow their progress individually.  As they are banded, we assess the damage to their flight feathers.
The band is placed on the lower “leg” or tarsus.

The band identifies the bird with a color and a number.

Parrot-banding is a group effort.

Step 3: Rehabilitation.  Although physically the birds are stronger, rehabilitation can last a long time.  We actually think that some birds pine away, never recovering from the emotional trauma of the capture.  African Grey Parrots mate for life.  We don’t know what was going on in the life of a bird at the time it was caught on a glue stick and tossed into the trade.

They may look very similar to each other, but each has a unique personality.

During rehabilitation birds grow back their wing and tail feathers and learn to fly again.
This happens in flight cages; there are seven in Maniema, three in Tshopo and one in Sankuru. 
At first most birds are unable to fly from one side of the cage to the far side.
Care is assured by local dedicated caretakers.  Not only do the birds need a diverse diet, but they also need a diet that includes the fruits that will be available to them once they fly free.

Climbing for the wild cassia fruits, a parrot favorite.

Regularly during the rehabilitation, the birds are examined to follow their progress and to detect any problems.

This sequential examination of a single banded bird shows the regrowth of wing feathers over 7 months.  The tail was completely plucked and yet completely regrown after 7 months.  This bird, banded 316-black,  flew free on  October 1st 2025.

Step 4:  Release.  The final step of re-wilding is more complex than we first thought would be the case.
Being able to fly is not enough to guarantee a successful re-wilding.

This bird, one of the last to leave on October 1st, seemed very hesitant at first, but finally flew well.

The released parrot must enter a community.  It seems that usually the parrots released together, fly together, but is that enough?  Do they still need to find other birds that know the forests and fields nearby?
There were several birds that hung around for days after an earlier release, but then one day, when a flock of parrots flew over, they flew up to join them and never returned.

Some recently released parrots continue coming back in the evenings to roost on the cages.

Food and water is kept on top of the flight cages as a precautionary back-up for the newly released.

The released birds that come back often delight us; we’ve watched them do what can only be celebratory gymnastics in the air before speeding off.

A flock of parrots flies over the Maniema Center; the parrots in the flight cages call to them.

With deep thanks from Terese and John Hart to the whole P3CK team (core group and caretakers) for making re-wilding parrots in DRCongo possible.

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (0)

OUTLAWed

2025-08-24 – 3:15 pm

“Finally”

ILLEGAL:  since July 31st 2025,
ILLEGAL:  everywhere in DRCongo,
          To Capture
          To Stock
          To Transport
          Or to, in anyway, commercialize African Grey Parrots.
The law was signed by the National Minister of the Environment, Eve Bazaiba Masudi, just before handing management of her office to a new Minister, Professor Marie Niange.

The Minister of the Environment, Madame Eve Bazaiba, signed the arrêté outlawing all parrot trade in DR Congo.

Minister Bazaiba’s signature was a courageous act.  She knew the strength of the parrot traders’ lobby.  Our own P3CK team saw LINEFCO (National league of animal and plant exporters) at “work” walking in and out of the Minister’s offices during the 2 weeks before she signed. 

History: since January 2017 the African Grey Parrot trade is banned by CITES on the international Market (CITES decision), but not in DR Congo, the main source of wild caught Greys. Congo had no internal national protections.  A free-for-all.

The Minister understood the wealth of the lobby and the lucrative role of the Grey Parrot trade.  She understood how the lobby’s wealth, through a combination of benefit and fear, infiltrates the Agencies under her direction.  Before she could sign, the law needed approval by these same administrations, the Division of Nature Conservation (DNC) and Congo’s Institute of Nature Conservation (ICCN) which includes the national CITES management.

Minister Bazaiba understood the global significance of forbidding the lucrative Grey Parrot trade.

Mme Bazaiba had a draft law written up.  The person she put in charge, Gilbert Njadi, had worked many years in ICCN before coming to DNC. Gilbert, too, understood the game.  The minister passed the draft around and called a workshop at the end of July for the ICCN, DNC, P3CK-Lukuru (us) and civil society to discuss its articles.

Gilbert told us that he knew the draft would be ripped apart by his colleagues in ICCN and DNC; for that reason, he said, he wrote in clauses that he thought could be torn out while maintaining the strength of the law.  One of the clauses struck down was protection for the Red Fronted Parrot, which has only partial CITES protection and is often used as a cover for international shipments of African Greys.  In 2024 over three hundred African Greys were confiscated in Turkey; they had been shipped as red fronted greens from DR Congo.

Two people from LINEFCO, Byart and Kalala, standing center above, showed up uninvited to the workshop, but to no avail.

WHAT DO WE KNOW about the source of opposition to the new law?

(1) From the very beginning of our work with parrots, we were aware of big “trade houses” in Kindu, where we started.  Theo worked with the outfit led by Martin Byart and Aimé worked for the outfit led by Alex Kalala or Balk-birds.  Both Theo and Aimé had over a hundred African Grey parrots at their own bases in Kindu and they each had satellite stocking hubs with hundreds more outside of the city.  Twice, Theo paid under the table to facilitate the export of nearly a thousand Grey Parrots after a law was signed to forbid their export from the province of Maniema.  A year later, Aimé offered money to destabilize a confiscation raid on a cargo of parrots he was accompanying by train to Lubumbashi.

Theo with parrot in Kindu.

(2) The names of the patrons of Theo and Aimé showed up again and again on parrot shipping crates in Kisangani’s Bangoka airport, a major convergence point for parrots moving to Kinshasa. Not only Byart and Balk (Kalala), but also Debaba, Mboyo, Kida, and others were regularly repeated over ten years of monitoring the parrot air-shipments.

Shipping crate full of African Greys on the tarmac of Kisangani’s Bangoka airport.

(3) In Tshopo Province, after the governor signed a provincial decree outlawing parrot trade, we tried to clean out parrot-stocking houses in the capital, Kisangani.   Although we could pull off confiscations of 20 to 40 parrots being brought in by traders outside the city, the big houses within the city itself, were not so easy.   When the police finally zeroed in on one – it was empty.  Feathers, dead birds and a few empty cages, were all that remained.  Apparently, the informant-traitor was a supposed “collaborator” from the local Environment Coordination.

Although, the traders put little effort in keeping secret their manner of operating in DRCongo, there are many CRUCIAL ELEMENTS WE DON’T UNDERSTAND:

  • Why is there such a huge and uncontrolled overseas market for African Grey Parrots, given that over 180 countries are members of the CITES convention that bans their international trade?
  • How high does the protection of parrot traders reach in Congo’s administration?  
  • How many red-fronted parrots remain in DRCongo?  We fear they are much rarer than even the African Greys, that the Red-fronted Parrots are used to camouflage.  Their loss is a sealed-off secret…known perhaps by none.

FINALLY, we welcome the new incoming minister of the Environment, Mme Prof Marie Niange.  We have much work to do together.

By Terese Hart | Posted in uncategorized | Comments (5)