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The Guardian reports that Madrid is planning to "humanely" slaughter and/or sterilize parakeets to reduce the non-native wild population which has recently swelled to 12,000. It says "many were imported as pets before ownership was outlawed eight years ago."

What was the reason for outlawing keeping parakeets as pets?

krubo
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    not a proper answer, but my guess is that the answer is in your question. – Federico Oct 08 '19 at 09:05
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    I do not understand why this question got so much negative reactions. The article clearly explains the context of reducing the population in the city. However the OP asks about why not allowing them as pets (e.g. in cages) in the first place which is quite different. The article mentions that they carry some diseases dangerous to people, but this is also true for cats and dogs if not properly vaccinated. – Alexei Oct 08 '19 at 11:01
  • As a nitpicky note, it is legal to own an invasive species in Spain; what is illegal is breeding or transfering ownership. Once a species enters the invasive species list, owners are required to register their pets but are allowed to keep them. – Diego Sánchez Oct 11 '19 at 12:11

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Quoting the article you linked to:

they pose a public health risk as they can pass illnesses such as psittacosis (parrot fever), avian flu and salmonella on to humans.

The article lists a few other issues when they're let loose to boot -- competition with local species and dangerously large nests in particular.

The parakeet's wikipedia article mentions that they're an invasive species, which in itself is a good reason to ban selling them as pets. If you need any convincing about that, see pythons in Florida for instance, and many many others.

Denis de Bernardy
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    A point that the OP seems to miss is that pet parakeets can become wild parakeets rather easily. – SJuan76 Oct 08 '19 at 12:27