Prior to 1992, most imported psitticine birds (parrots) were
imported into private quarantine facilities under the
supervision of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). All of
these imported birds were provided leg bands with identification
that contained three letters followed by three numbers. There
were facilities in:
| Florida |
bands starting with the letter F |
| California |
bands starting with the letters C
and O |
| Michigan |
bands starting with the letter M |
| Illinois |
bands starting with the letter I |
| Louisiana |
bands starting with the letter L |
| New York |
bands starting with the
letter N |
Some of these birds entered through USDA quarantine
facilities, their leg bands have USDA on them.
In 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enacted the Wild
Bird Conservation Act. This legislation stopped the commercial
importation of psitticine birds (parrots) into the United
States. Prior to that time there were many thousands of parrots
imported into the United States, many of them wild caught.
If your bird has a leg band with three letters (the first one
being F, C, O, M, I, L, or N), followed by three numbers, it was
undoubtedly imported into one of the above listed States prior
to 1992.
Most of the import records up to and before 1992 have been
discarded. We do have a very limited number of import records.
The only information these records can provide is the year the
bird was imported into the United States, we are not able to
trace ownership. |
