Antonio de Dios

Antonio de Dios is a "bird aficionado" known in the relevant circles [Adraneda, Katherine. 2002, November 25. "AMIANAN", THE RESCUED PHILIPPINE EAGLE DIES OF INFECTION. Philippine Headline News Online. http://www.newsflash.org/2002/11/si/si001365.htm] from the Philippines who established in 1975 Birds International, Inc. (not to be confused with BirdLife International, an environmental non-governmental organization and not affiliated with the short-lived quarterly publication "Birds International" by Joe Forshaw), a company working in the field of aviculture.

He came from a wealthy family and currently is the President and General Manager of Transport EquipmentCorporation [http://www.pescp.org/Reports/PESCP_Report_2008.pdf (see page 3)] , the family business established by his father.

De Dios was interested in animals since his childhood and kept many pets (including several birds) in their family house before proceeding to breeding business [Bringas, Roger and Sheldon Dingle. "AFA Visits... Tropical Paradise for Birds". Available from the WWW: http://www.birdsinternational.net/afa.html ] . He had became aware of the critical decline of exotic bird population in his country in early 1970s and decided to open a breeding and research facility. He acquired a field of six hectares in Quezon City near Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and established Birds International Incorporated. The location of the center is suitable since the tropical climate of Philippines is conducive to the breeding and propagation of exotic birds [Goodwill Birds Training. "A World-Class Breeding Center". http://www.gwbirds.com.sg/bii.html] . He is also the director of the facility [ [http://www.zoos.org/SE%20Asia/Philippines/Birds%20International%20Inc..html Birds International Inc ] ] .

The company is the largest captive bird breeding facility in the world also regarded by many to be the best [Harrison, Greg J. 2000. "Extraordinary... The Birds International, Inc.". "HBD's Avian Examiner" 18. Available from the WWW:http://www.avianmedicine.net/examiners/ae18.pdf] , "the biggest and most successful breeder of exotic birds in the world" and a successful business venture [Pangyarihan, Gilbert. 2007. "A Million Violins Singing Out of the Boondocks: Violins made of Philippine tropical woods." Business in Development Network. Available from the WWW: http://www.bidnetwork.org/artefact-60247-en.html] . It is reputed to have the largest parrot collection in the world [ [http://caiquesite.com/Links/public_aviaries.htm Public Aviaries ] ] .

However Antonio de Dios had also been heavily criticized by some conservatists for his commercial interests in the Spix's Macaw, one of the rarest birds in the world, [Whittell, Giles. 2002, January 11. "Battle of the bird breeders". The Times. Available from the WWW:http://www.bluemacaws.org/spxart22.htm] [Juniper, Tony. 2003. "Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird". Atria: Ch. 10 (pp 201-230).] despite his success in captive breeding the species [See for instance: http://www.arabrasil.org/PR/LPF_Spix_Female.htm] . For example when he decided to donate some birds to other facilities Natasha Schischakin, a conservationist working on Spix's Macaw who is critical of private efforts, stated that "The owner of BII, Antonio de Dios offered to donate these birds to the reintroduction effort, but only with the establishment of rigorous protocols and involvement of his staff in the reintroduction program." [Schischakin, N. "Captive Management and Conservation Programs for Parrots - Can Public and Private Sector Collaboration Work?". AZA Annual Conference Proceedings 2001. Silver Spring, Maryland. American Zoo and Aquarium Association, 2001. Available from the WWW:http://www.arabrasil.org/public-private.htm] .

Publications

M. A. R. (1996). "Protocol for red-vented cockatoo at Birds International Inc., Philippines" in "European studbook for the red-vented cockatoo".

References

ee also

* Katala Foundation