Large numbers of rare parrots kept in the Czech Replublic : CITES statistics of parrots Czech Rep | Parrots Daily News
Based on personal experience, I can confirm this. I was astonished by the rarity (and in some species also quantity) of (privately) kept parrots there.
Parrot (and other exotic bird) breeding has a long tradition here. There used to be very extensive collections in private hands before WWII. For example first director of Zoo Prague was locally famous bird collector and he donated part of his birds to the zoo when it opened, dozens largre parrots, mostly in pairs or groups (amazons, macaws...). During commie time, when imports/exports with most of the world were very limited or outright impossible, local breeders cherished each single bird they could obtain from abroad and thus developed very good keeping skills to breed them, otherwise their cages would get empty soon. (This goes also for other local hobby breeders of reptiles, fish or cacti collectors.) And after revolution, when travel and trade routes opened again, everybody was hungry to import new exciting species. Often in shaddy/illegal ways because legal birds from western Europe were too expensive to buy for many people.
Look at the enormous number of Cuban Amazon. There was a time forty or fifty years ago when this species could only be found in Eastern Europe, not in the West. This number would reflect that fact.
Cuban amazon used to be the most numerous large parrot species kept here during commie time, because people visiting Cuba were taking them when they were returning home. Actually, ever since they were placed on CITES I Czech list, their number is decreasing, because of bureucracy that is very tiring for private keepers.
You have answered a longterm puzzle for me- why so many Cuban Amazons where present in Eastern Europe and absent from the West (they are quite common here now).
I would say it is also caused by the fact that they used to be very rare in Western Europe and its looks made it very desirable. So when the opportunity arrived quite some birds where sold of to Western Europe. It is now one of the most common amazon parrots in European aviculture.
Up-date of numbers of rare parrots kept in the Czech Republic : http://www.parrotsdailynews.com/cit...llow-headed-amazons-have-increased-in-number/
