Welcome to the American Ornithological Society 2018 Annual Conference. We are pleased to have you join us at the lovely Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, AZ.
To explore the possibility that non-invasive non-native species in the urban southern California setting may offer for at least two IUCN endangered species, wildlife rehabilitators have engaged conservationists and scientists to determine the role that these outcasts may play in the ultimate saving of their species in a wild setting. With up to thirteen species of naturalized urban wild parrots recorded in the southern California region, it is the common presence of the IUCN endangered species red-crowned amazon (Amazona viridigenalis) and lilac-crowned amazon (Amazona finschi) that brings added layers of complication to wildlife rehabilitation, conservation and science. Wildlife rehabilitators have an obligation to high standards of animal welfare, conservation and ecology and will have to overcome standardized eco xenophobia, lack of legal protections on the US side of the border and a lack of structured conservation on the Mexican side of the border along with a deficiency in background studies to determine what responsibilities take precedence in this complicated subject. Rehabilitators are using disease testing, microchipping, population studies, urban ecology studies, and a recently initiated genomic study to help determine what, if any, role these individual alien parrots can play in their species survival in the wild. Initial analysis seems to indicate an unusual resistance to disease, and the possibility of, at the very least, serving as a genetic reservoir should the natural populations in Mexico experience a sudden decline due to anthropogenic pressure or a natural disaster on the scale of 2017's hurricanes.
