The 2026 Yucatán International Book Fair (FILEY) was the perfect setting for the presentation of the comic book Patachín, which tells the story of a bird that lived for years in captivity and suffered injuries. This project is part of the work carried out by the Santa María Environmental Dissemination and Conservation Center, which specializes in the care and conservation of the parrot population in Yucatán.
In this way, activists for parrots and other species of “tsittacines” (parrots, parakeets, and macaws) created a magazine to teach children and adults that parrots are not toys or decorations and should not be kept as pets. This is the first publishing effort of this civil association.
The comic tells the story of “Patachín,” a Yellow-cheeked Amazon parrot (Amazona autumnalis), and was presented at FILEY, considered the most important literary and cultural event in Yucatán and one of the most significant in southeastern Mexico.
The protagonist of the story lived 12 years in captivity as a pet, suffering from cages, amputation of phalanges when her wing feathers were clipped, a broken leg that went untreated and healed backward, as well as self-mutilation of feathers and skin due to stress. She was rescued in 2021 by conservationists from Proyecto Santa María (PSM), although her feathers no longer grow back and she cannot fly.
The book will be distributed in schools and communities, where PSM conducts workshops and activities to raise children’s environmental awareness and promote bird protection, as well as teach them the importance of collective commitment to biodiversity conservation on the Peninsula. The comic will also be available for purchase.
“Unfortunately, many other stories like this one reach Proyecto Santa María, demonstrating the harm we can cause to wild parrots when we want to keep them as pets,” explained specialist Vanessa Martínez García, the organization’s new director.
“Parrots are not toys, they are not decorations, and they should not be pets; they should fly free in the jungle,” he stated.
The book’s co-authors are Meztli Hernández Cristerna and Camila Castrejón Pulido, along with the Center for Environmental Dissemination and Conservation itself; it was illustrated by designers Marián Jiménez Contreras and Ximena Caballero González. Pierre Medina Arjona, the current acting president of the civil association, was also present at the event.
The Santa María Project Center for Environmental Dissemination and Conservation, specializing in the rescue and preservation of parrots in Yucatán, documented the presence of nine psittacine species in Mérida through 2,935 reports from 192 citizens. Of these, three are naturally distributed in the state, four are native to Mexico, and two are invasive species, one of which has a high reproductive capacity and can generate negative effects on urban infrastructure.
This program—entirely based on citizen collaboration—lasted one year with a three-month overlap period and concluded on January 31st. The first report, produced in 2025, was surprisingly successful.
The project coincides with the protection of parrots, parakeets, and cockatiels, as experts indicate that Mexico has 22 species of parrots, of which 11 are endangered, eight are considered threatened, and three are under special protection.
Source: jornada
