Abstract
The international pet trade is a major source of emerging invasive vertebrate species. We used online resources as a novel source of information for accidental bird escapes, and we investigated the factors that influence the frequency and distribution of bird escapes at a continental scale. We collected information on over 5,000 pet birds reported to be missing on animal websites during the last 15 years in Australia. We investigated whether variables linked to pet ownership successfully predicted bird escapes, and we assessed the potential distribution of these escapes. Most of the reported birds were parrots (> 90%), thus, we analysed factors associated with the frequency of parrot escapes. We found that bird escapes in Australia are much more frequent than previously acknowledged. Bird escapes were reported more frequently within, or around, large Australian capital cities. Socio-economic factors, such as the average personal income level of the community, and the level of human modification to the environment were the best predictors of bird escapes. Cheaper parrot species, Australian natives, and parrot species regarded as peaceful or playful were the most frequently reported escapees. Accidental introductions have been overlooked as an important source of animal incursions. Information on bird escapes is available online in many higher income countries and, in Australia, this is particularly apparent for parrot species. We believe that online resources may provide useful tools for passive surveillance for non-native pet species. Online surveillance will be particularly relevant for species that are highly reported, such as parrots, and species that are either valuable or highly commensal.
Highlights
International wildlife trade moves millions of individual animals around the world every year [1]
Individual reports of bird escapes were cross-checked across all web pages to exclude duplicate reports of missing birds, and in an endeavour to track the outcome of the escapees
For the parrot species reported on missing animal websites we found evidence for a relatively strong phylogenetic signal in the tendency for parrots to be reported as lost, found, or stolen (Estimated median lambda [5st, 95th percentiles] = 0.62 [0.55, 0.69])
Summary
International wildlife trade moves millions of individual animals (of many thousands of species) around the world every year [1]. The pet industry, including the popular practice of keeping cage birds, is a large component of wildlife trade [2], and a significant source of new invasive vertebrate species [3,4,5]. The factors that influence which and how pet animals are released into the wild remain largely unstudied. Unlike the introduction of other wildlife commodities (e.g., fish stocking or game animal acclimatisation), the release of pet animals is an unfortunate consequence of the trade [4]. Pet species are either deliberately abandoned by their. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0172851 February 24, 2017
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