Conservation in the Veterinary Clinic

I have been going to the Annual Conference of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) for 40 years, and I have seen so many changes in the status and practice of avian medicine, as well as in my beloved colleagues. My we are getting older! Still, so many of us old timers continue to contribute and mentor, and work hard to improve the welfare and care of birds.

One Earth Conservation's booth at the recent Association for Avian Veterinarians Annual Conference (L to R above: Lorelei D'Avolio, LoraKim Joyner, Josh Anderson) and the International Alliance for the Protection of Parrot's booth next door (below).

During the last 40 years the conservation status of many parrot species has declined. Nearly one-third of the roughly 398 parrot species now face elevated risks of extinction, driven largely by human pressures that have intensified since the 1980s. My two presentations at the 2026 AAV Annual Conference, Transformative Conservation and Unconditional Solidarity (see photo below) and the Parrot Conservation Corps, were directly aimed at how veterinarians could improve the welfare and conservation status of these free ranging parrots. Many already contribute by conducting research, volunteering, engaging in conservation programs, and donating.  My main message was an invitation to them to consider that there is more we could do together. 

We invited them to be part of One Earth Conservation's programs, along with their clients, including our Parrot Pilgrimage, Transformative Unconditional Solidarity webinars, and Parrot Conservation Corps.  We also suggested that they bring conservation into their clinics through conversations with and distribution of information to their staff and clients.  In these ways, those who care for parrots in their homes can understand the status of wild parrots and learn about wild parrot behavior and biology. This is so they can take better care of the parrots who live with them and learn what they can do to help parrots where they naturally range. They can also be invited to donate to causes that help free ranging parrots.

It may be a bigger step to ask clients to consider adopting a parrot rather than buying one in the future. However, this conversation is worth having because reducing demand could help limit the large-scale removal of parrots from the wild. For example, one study estimated that 300,000–500,000 parrots were taken from the wild in Bolivia to become pets in a single year.

My colleague and One Earth Conservation Board member, Lorelei D’Avolio (photo above), suggested to people who visited our booth at the conference that they ask their clients just one question: Do you know where your bird comes from? This opens the chance for a wider conversation and an exchange of information that includes telling their clients one impressive thing about that species in the wild and their conservation status. Materials in the clinic or emailed links can also show where parrots come from and their wondrous behavioral characteristics and ecology.

These conversations with staff and clients open up opportunities to address conservation in veterinary clinics and can help connect captive birds with wild birds. After all, they are all one flock but are separated by levels of anthropogenic disruption and harm that keep them apart.

Perhaps parrots will always be in captivity, and even bought and sold, but we can at least improve care of the birds that are already here and stop the trade of wild birds.

Veterinarians are powerful and they care, and I believe, can do so much to help parrots wherever they are. A conversation that begins in the clinic can wing itself around the world to keep parrots flying free.