By Ayesha Wijeratne
The issue over the controversial exchange of a highly expensive rare African grey parrot, a prized possession of the Zoological Gardens in exchange for several mediocre birds ended on a happy note when Nation Building and Development Minister Susantha Punchinilame who had obtained the parrot had voluntarily returned it on Friday.

The deal between the Zoological Gardens and the Minister came in for much criticism when it was exposed by media. The African parrot is said to be worth over Rs. 200,000 whereas the worth of all birds exchanged for it put together comes no where near this amount, critics said.

Nation Building and Development Minister Punchnilame when contacted told The Nation yesterday that he had already returned the parrot to the zoo.
“However the reason why I returned the bird to the zoo is not the adverse media publicity the transaction attracted, but because I had mistakenly taken a male bird when I wanted a mate for the male bird I was already having in my aviary,” Punchinilame explained.

He said he offered two Amherst Pheasants, two hornbills ‘kedettas’ and a flying squirrel ‘hambawa’ in exchange. The zoo was not having Kedettas and Hambawas at the time the deal was struck.
“When I offered the animals to the zoo I did not demand that I be given the African parrot . I only said that I would welcome the African parrot in the belief it was a female and it would make an ideal mate for my bird. They willingly gave it to me. The parrot is not that expensive though media reports set a big value on it. It is worth about Rs.35,000. I have obtained some animals including a lion and a tiger sometime ago from the zoo,” he added.
Keeping animals had been a hobby of the Minister since his childhood. He began keeping animals since 1970s.

The Nation learns that the African Grey Parrot is a medium-sized parrot endemic to primary and secondary rainforests of West and Central Africa. Experts regard it as one of the most intelligent birds.

When contacted Additional Director of Dehiwala Zoological Gardens Dhammika Malsinghe said exchanging exotic birds in the zoo is not illegal, and is a long standing practice.” This is not the first time we exchanged birds. The particular bird is not worth more than Rs.40, 000 and it is not a very rare kind. Several people had set varying high values on the bird because a ban on bird imports is operative these days in view of the threat of the bird flu prevailing the world over.

However she said, there had not been an exchange with the particular Minister earlier but there had been a system of exchanging other animals for about 20 years. At present, only exotic birds are exchanged for other animals. The zoo officials had also been in a dilemma in setting a value on the animals that Minister gave them since the zoo does not have power to place values.

She explained, only the birds are exchangeable as the other animals could be free to the surrounding. Usually the birds cannot be set free to the environment but are caged and adopters breed them.
Minister asked for two birds but we decided to give only one and we made sure to give a male bird as its value is less compared to a female bird, Malsinghe added.

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