A bright parrot sits on a long stick in a cage. It mimics voices of people passing by. This bird didn’t always live in a U.S. pet store. Once, it flew between trees in the Mexican forest. People in the United States love pet parrots—almost as much as dogs, cats, and fish. To sell Americans what they want, some Mexican traders will work hard to catch and sell the birds. Some will do it even if it means breaking the law.

Experts guess about 9,400 parrots are smuggled to the United States from Mexico every year. Some become pets. Collectors buy others. Some are even sold for bird fighting. Many of the beautiful birds belong to disappearing species.

Just 14 years ago, about 800,000 wild birds were smuggled into the United States every year. That’s a lot! Now laws exist to protect the birds from smuggling. The laws also protect people from diseases birds can carry. But they don’t stop smugglers. Smugglers sell the birds on the black market. Some of the birds catch diseases while they travel. Some are crushed or become dehydrated. Thousands of Mexican parrots die this way every year. That’s faster than they can be replaced. Will illegal parrot smuggling continue? If it does, it could mean no more parrots in Mexican forests—or pet stores!