St. Vincent Amazon fact sheet

On the small island of St. Vincent, which is in the Windward Group of the Lesser Antilles, lives one of the world's rarest birds, the incredibly beautiful St. Vincent Amazon. It is confined to several remote valleys along the mountainous backbone of the eighteen by ten mile island. Recent estimates place the endangered population between 400 and 500 birds.
The parrot is hunted for it's edible flesh and is also often taken from the nest for illegal pet trade. Alarming numbers appear each year on the black market bound for Europe via Martinique and

Trinidad. The bird has been classed as an endangered species for some time, but hunting and nest robbing continue virtually unchecked. The cutting back of the island's rainforests for lumber and agriculture is forcing the parrots into even smaller areas.
The past two decades have witnessed a continual decline in the populations of all of the West Indian parrots. Attempts to stem this downward trend have been negligible. People of these islands live on the constant edge of poverty. They have had little or no exposure to conservation measures and do not place the parrot's welfare above their own need to survive. It is extremely upsetting to face the fact of the impending end of these unique and beautiful birds in the wild. Unfortunately it appears that nothing short of an about-face in politics and conservation policies will save their island habitats.
It becomes increasingly evident to all of us that the immediate solution to save endangered species is through captive breeding programs . For over eight years there have existed three captive breeding programs in Europe and two in the United States working with the St. Vincent Amazon. The first (world) captive breeding success was achieved by Bob Berry at the Houston Zoo in 1972. The second was in 1982 at the Life Fellowship Bird Sanctuary in Florida which is run by Romon Noegel.

Wayne E. Smyth is an enthusiastic naturalist and his interest in the plight of the St. Vincent Amazon has been an ongoing one for a number of years . His paintings reflect an intense understanding of the animal he portrays, well-evidenced in this outstanding work of a St. Vincent trio in their rainforest habitat. Wayne's travles throughtout Africa, Central America and the Caribbean have been extensive. Galleries in Nairobi, London, Frankfurt, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles are successfully selling Wayne E. Smyth's work. He has had a number of one-man shows and has had paintings in several highly acclaimed exhibitions of the World Wildlife Organization. His background includes work as an art-director witha large advertising firm in New York and Rome and residency in East Africa for ten years where he organized photographic safaris and several research programs. His undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois were in advertising design and zoology and his post -graduate studies at the University of Florida were in marine biology. Wayne E. Smyth was born in Chicago in 1942 and makes Los Angeles his home.