Agency Plans|Parrot Protection

WASHINGTON (CN) - The United States Fish and Wildlife Service plans to list as endangered the Philippine cockatoo and the yellow-crested cockatoo, and to list as threatened the white cockatoo, under the Endangered Species Act. The agency plans not to list the crimson shining parrot, a fourth bird included in a petition to protect 14 parrots, under the act.

In a July 21, 2010, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia settlement, the agency agreed to submit to the Federal Register by July 29, 2011, a determination whether listing is warranted, not warranted, or warranted but precluded by other listing actions, for no less than four species of parrot.

The agency still has to make determinations on eight of the birds for which the petition requested protection.

The agency also proposes a special rule for the white cockatoo that would prohibit taking white cockatoos from the wild now that the species is listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The current threat to the white cockatoo "stems from illegal trade in the domestic and international markets of Indonesia and surrounding countries," according to the agency.

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