LAHORE: The Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department has allowed the licence to keep endemic parakeets of Pakistan, permitting the pet lovers across the province to legally keep these birds, Deputy Chief Wildlife Rangers Dr Ghulam Rasool told Dawn on Sunday.

Dr Rasool said that previously, the possession of these endemic (local) parakeets, like rose-ringed, which are comparatively smaller, was banned.

He says that the department has legalised captivity of four parakeet species, which are endemic to Pakistan, through licencing and registration.

These species include rose-ringed (psittacula krameri), Alexandrine (psittacula eupatria), plum-headed (psittacula cyanocephala) and grey-headed (psittacula finschii).

He says that exotic species like African grey, Macaw etc have not been been covered by any separate licencing procedure.

For the parrots kept at home, the licence fee will be Rs1,000 per bird per annum, while for the breeders having farms on three marla to one kanal land, to be registered as ‘small cottage breeders’, the fee would be Rs30,000 annually. Those having land above 1 kanal would be registered as ‘large cottage breeders’ and they will pay a Rs50,000 annual fee, Dr Rasool says.

All parrots, he says, whether licenced or registered, shall be ringed with a unique code by the department. The wild population of these parrots shall remain protected under schedule 3 of the Punjab Wildlife Act and no one would be allowed to capture or net these parakeets, he adds.

He says that the possession fee for the parakeets has been notified, while a detailed mechanism is to be announced very soon.

Dr Rasool says parakeet species have a significant ecological role and their presence is a sign of rich biodiversity in an area. He says that internationally, there are 402 species of parrots and of them African grey, Macaw, cocktail, are popular among the bird lovers.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2025