The story of the Spix’s macaw (Cyanospsitta spixii), already fragile and battered, faces a new blow. The eleven specimens still free in the Brazilian caatinga were found positive for the centovirus, an incurable disease which, with breaking feathers and weakened beaks, often leads to death. This was confirmed by the Brazilian authorities after the recapture of the animals in the arid areas of Bahia, where since 2020 attempts have been made to revive the species in the wild.
For years these releases had rekindled a hope considered impossible: seeing a bird officially extinct in the wild return to flight. Now that hope is once again hanging by an increasingly thin thread.
A disease without cure that undermines an entire conservation strategy
TheCircovirus does not represent a risk for humans, but for psittacines it is a ruthless adversary. It attacks feathers and beak, hinders movements, takes away energy and autonomy. And it is precisely this fragility that makes the contagion dramatic: Spix’s macaw is made up of a handful of individuals, with an already very narrow genetic base.
The virus did not stop at free specimens. In the Bahia breeding center, another twenty-one individuals tested positive, a number that weighs enormously considering that just ninety remain in the world, almost all of them in captivity. This is enough to understand how a single outbreak can transform into an earthquake.
Poor hygiene and absent protections
The ICMBio inspectors described a picture that no one would want to find in a structure dedicated to the protection of a species on the brink of collapse. They reported dirty feeders, pens that were never cleaned regularly and staff without minimum protection.
A situation deemed “very serious” and which cost the BlueSky center a fine of 1.8 million reais. Doubts and questions remain: where did the virus come from? And above all, how much was it favored by conditions that should have been impeccable?
This health emergency comes in an already tense climate. In 2024, Brazil ended its collaboration with ACTP, the German association that holds the majority of Spix’s macaws in captivity.
The split arose from a controversial decision: the unauthorized sale of twenty-six birds to a private Indian zoo. This was also followed by the farewell of the South African biologist Cromwell Purchase, central figure of the BlueSky project, who left the country accusing the authorities of wanting to “sacrifice” the ararinhas, as Spix’s macaw is called in Brazil. It is a climate of crossed suspicions that certainly does not help a species that would instead need total collaboration.
New barriers, isolation and a thread of hope
In recent days the BlueSky center has separated healthy specimens from positive ones, strengthened health protocols and created barriers to avoid any exchange between free and captive individuals. It’s a race against time as you monitor any signal, even the smallest. Despite the diagnosis, the technicians say, the eleven individuals affected by the virus continue to fly with energy and eat normally. It’s a detail that shines a light in the midst of the fog, even if it’s not enough to say how it will end.
The Spix’s macaw had already disappeared from the wild once. His return seemed like a miracle built in silence, with years of work and incredible tenacity. Today that miracle risks breaking again, suspended on the wings of eleven birds fighting against an invisible enemy.
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