There's some good news coming out of the Chiquibul Forest tonight, the 2022 Scarlet Macaw breeding season has ended with much success. The Friends for Conservation and Development report that by the end of the season in September, a total of 24 macaws made it to the wild. They will join a population of approximately 350 individual parrots found in Belize.

The Macaw is locally endangered primarily due to wildlife trafficking and habitat loss. The Chiquibul Forest is the key foraging and breeding habitat for the species in Belize, and FCD has been systematically documenting and monitoring of the species for more than eight years. This year - with the help of 13 volunteers - they monitored a total of 15 nests with chicks, out of which twenty grew and fledged naturally from their cavity. Four other chicks had to be taken to a laboratory, due to the high risk of poaching and were later released into the wild.

And the real takeaway here is that there was no instance of documented poaching in the monitored areas; however, reports from Guatemala indicate that poaching of scarlet macaw chicks did occur in other parts of their breeding grounds in the Chiquibul. FCD advises that the illegal wildlife trafficking activity starts in Guatemala where poachers try to raid the Chiquibul for persons seeking these precious birds in the pet trade.

Channel 7