local communities may, therefore, be apprehensive towards the introduction of the very similar echo parakeet, which may act the same way in a new environment. By 2019, the population had reached 750 birds in the wild, and the species' conservation status was classified as vulnerable. Threats The main threat to the species is destruction and alteration of its native habitat, resulting in the loss of feeding areas, which would force the birds to travel widely to find food. In times of food shortage, the female may not receive adequate amounts of food from the male and would be forced to leave the nest to forage, sometimes abandoning it completely. Parakeets have difficulties finding new nest sites if their nests are destroyed or taken by competitors, and many of the old trees used for nesting sites have been destroyed by cyclones; cyclones also kill birds and remove the fruit from trees. Competitors for nest-cavities include bees and wasps, white-tailed tropic-birds, rose-ringed parakeets, common mynas (Acridotheres tristis), and rats. Rats and crab-eating macaques prey on parakeet eggs and chicks (even nesting parents have been killed by the latter), and the monkeys are also the most serious competitors for food since they strip fruits off trees before they are ripe. Chicks are threatened by the bloodsucking larvae of tropical nest flies (Passeromyia heterochaeta) as well, which are a major cause of mortality. African giant land-snails (Achatina spp.) can suffocate chicks with their slime while entering nests in search of food or shelter. Other introduced species such as feral pigs and rusa deer (Rusa timorensis) also disturb the parakeets. Hunting by humans does not appear to have been a threat to the species in recent times, and very few have been taken for the pet trade. An isolated case of psittacine beak and feather disease was recorded in an echo parakeet in 1996; in 2004 there was a significant outbreak, and a subsequent screening programme showed that more than 30% of sampled birds had encountered the disease. Birds younger than two years old are most affected, and 40–50% of fledglings die from it and associated infections each year. Some birds recover, but it is not known if they remain carriers of the disease and pass it on to their offspring, or how it is spread. The disease is also found in local rose-ringed parakeets, but it is not known in which direction it was