The Madrid City Council is ruling out, for now, any further reduction in the number of Argentine parrots and Kramer's parrots, since their population is currently “in a stable balance”, said the delegate for urban planning, environment and mobility this Wednesday city councilor, Borja Carabante , in statements to the press reported by Efe. In the last two years, the eradication campaign, accompanied by strong controversy when pellets were used to kill birds, has reduced the colony of this invasive species from 13,000 to 10,000 individuals, a 30% reduction, which has led to a decrease in neighborhood complaints against it invasive species.
“The two-year contract signed for this purpose in May 2021 ended in May last year and the population was reduced as expected. “To date there is no new treaty,” add environmental sources, who do not detail what the distribution of the parrots was by district or where they were most exterminated.
The actions of the City Council have managed to “maintain the indices established by the technical services to ensure tranquility in the neighborhood while protecting the biodiversity of the capital,” defended the delegate. Carabante has also explained that, beyond the noise problem, the overpopulation of parrots also poses a threat to the physical integrity of neighbors, since this species built “bulky” nests in the branches of trees that weighed up to 200 kilos and could lead to branches fall. Due to their invasive behavior, parrots crowd out other native birds such as sparrows and are vectors of disease, the council added.
In announcing the two-year contract, the city council stated that Madrid is the area where the largest concentration of Argentine parrots is found in all of Spain. According to the census carried out by the Spanish Society of Ornithology (SEO) Birdlife, in 2019 there were 13,000 specimens – half of all specimens living in the country – compared to 7,000 in 2015. Compared to 2005, the dizzying increase was 665%. Kramer's parrot colony numbered 770 individuals. Concurrent with the colonization of the city, citizen complaints increased by 136% since 2018, with Latina, Usera and Carabanchel being the districts with the highest number of complaints.
Before the start of the operations, the district with the largest parrot population was Abrantes (Carabanchel district), with 1,142 individuals (8.8% of the total), followed by Ciudad Universitaria (Moncloa-Aravaca) with 1,031 individuals (7.9%). Las Águilas and Lucero (Latina) and Casa de Campo (Moncloa-Aravaca) with populations between 500 and 1,000 parrots.
The companies responsible for the service, Matinsa and Dypsa, were responsible for checking the nests to re-count the birds, thus facilitating the planning of laying and population control work. In August, coinciding with the birds' laying and birthing cycle, the eggs were sterilized and returned to their place to avoid re-laying. “It is the most effective technique because clutch control reduces the renewal rate and growth of the parrot population,” the consistory explained.
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Nests that posed a danger to citizens or the tree would also be removed. In the bloodiest part, they wanted to “catch specimens with cage traps and nets” and exterminate them “while respecting animal welfare regulations.” However, in November 2021, residents of Fuente del Berro Park in the Salamanca district reported that they were killed with compressed air pellets. The city council confirmed to this newspaper that it was “a collection operation within the framework of the plan for exceptional situations” and that it corresponds to the authorization of the Community of Madrid to reduce these invasive exotic birds. “The signed contract specifies the use of a compressed air gun in certain circumstances and in limited areas,” admitted a spokesman for the environmental sector. This Wednesday, after the end of the campaign, the city council did not clarify how many of the birds were killed with shotgun shells.
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