Nowadays parrots are fast growing in popularity among pet owners in Taiwan, but reports show that a large proportion of pet parrots on the island are illegally bred.

The authorities and bird lovers are now scratching their heads to come up with a solution to the problem.

While most pet owners like to keep cats or dogs, these people prefer the company of parrots, who

fly back and forth following the whistle commands of their masters.

In fact, the number of people keeping parrots as pets in Taiwan has been steadily on the rise, reaching about 100,000 in the latest estimate.

But many of them belong to internationally protected endangered species, and may have been illegally sold as pets.

According to the current Wildlife Conservation Law, governmental approval must be acquired first before animals of endangered species are allowed to be traded, but here in Taiwan, most parrots in circulation are privately bred. And governmental management in this area is also hard to implement.

To address the problem, the Forestry Service has now joined forces with the Kaohsiung County Pet Bird Owners' Association to launch a bird certification system, which is similar to planting microchips in dogs to identify the relationship between the owner and the pet.

However, the method is far from perfect as it cannot trace the origin of the parrot.

And that is an issue still waiting to be solved by the authorities.