Customs find 70 birds smuggled in hair rollers at airport

By AAP

10:09am Dec 14, 2018

Customs officials at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport say they found 70 live finches hidden inside hair rollers.

Authorities say a passenger arriving from Guyana on Saturday had the songbirds in a duffel bag.

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Vulture chicks and rare bird eggs seized at Heathrow airport

Man arrested and bailed after discovery of 19 eggs from South African birds of prey

Press Association

Fri 29 Jun 2018 13.44 BSTLast modified on Fri 29 Jun 2018 17.05 BST

Two vulture chicks and more than a dozen eggs containing rare and endangered species have been seized at Heathrow airport.

Border Force officers confiscated 19 eggs, two of which had hatched, from a man who had arrived on a flight from South Africa.

While the exact species have not yet been identified, the eggs, which had been concealed in a body belt, were from South African birds of prey including vultures, eagles, hawks and kites, the Home Office said.

Border Force specialist officers identified that the eggs were protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The chicks and eggs were being cared for at a specialist facility, the Home Office said.

The man, 56, was arrested and bailed pending further inquiries. The investigation has been passed to the National Crime Agency.

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Turkey: Hundreds of rare African gray parrots seized

Parrots smuggled from Congo were seized at a customs warehouse in Istanbul

Turkey 09.01.2018     

By Zehra Aydin Turapoglu, Burcu Arik

ANKARA

Customs officials in Istanbul seized more than 300 rare African gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus) smuggled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said an official on Tuesday.

The General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National (DKMP) teams were last week tipped off about a illegal trafficking of endemic African parrots and cooperated with Customs Enforcement and Anti-Smuggling and Intelligence Directorate units to find the birds. 

The official from Turkish Forestry and Water Affairs Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to media, said the birds were found at a customs warehouse in a cargo package en route to Iraq.

Trade of endemic birds was in 2016 under Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

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Iraq steps up efforts to stop smuggling of rare species

Wassim Bassem November 24, 2017

Smuggling rare animal species out of Iraq has become common due to lax enforcement of laws and the country's security situation, but the federal government is making renewed efforts to halt the smuggling.

A falcon perches on a Bedouin hunter's arm during a hunt in a desert south of Samawah, Iraq, Nov. 30, 2007.

Iraq's Ministry of Health and Environment released 20 falcons back into the wild Nov. 17. The falcons had been smuggled earlier in the month to Kuwait, which returned them to Iraq. This incident is but one example of the systematic smuggling of rare birds and animals out of the country, and the authorities are working to better enforce existing laws and adding security measures.

“The lack of surveillance on the vast, open borders as well as the rampant corruption at the ports make such operations both possible and profitable for smugglers and merchants,” an officer in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

Smugglers are encouraged by traders in the Gulf states who pay huge sums of money to purchase rare, ornamental or hunting birds. There's an anecdote circulating that a rare breed of pigeon recently sent bird fanciers in Kuwait into a bidding war, driving the final price for the birds to $33,000.

“Many trade transactions are conducted illegally, away from any environmental or security controls,” Manal al-Muslimawi, a member of the Iraqi parliament's Environment Committee, told Al-Monitor. “The Iraqi laws [are supposed to] protect the environment and its biological diversity, but they are not being enforced."

The falcon incident, Muslimawi said, "is one out of hundreds of smuggling cases of Iraqi birds and rare animals, and the parliamentary committee is aware of that.” She added, “The environmental police in Iraq are not up to the challenge, given the lack of the needed personnel."

Some markets in Baghdad even sell protected species in plain sight.

"Some well-known smugglers are buying rare animal and bird species from the market to selling them through cross-border networks," bird trader Sheikh Ali told Al-Monitor. 

"There is a trader who managed last year to get seven rare and desirable hawks from the desert of Ramadi and [offered to sell them to us] for a good price," which he declined. "I subsequently learned that this trader [sold them] to the Gulf traders,” he added.

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Exotic Indonesian birds smuggled in drain pipes

17 November 2017

A wildlife raid in Indonesia yielded startling results after 125 exotic birds were found squashed into pipes.

Police say 84 eclectus parrots and 41 endangered white cockatoos were stuffed into drain pipes sealed by wire.

Indonesia's vast jungles are home to many threatened bird species. The country is trying to rein in a rampant wildlife trade.

Separate raids were conducted in parts of eastern Indonesia, leading to the arrests of four men.

If found guilty, they face jail sentences of up to five years and fines of 100m Rupiah ($7,400; £5,600).

Indonesia is home to a large-scale illegal trade of birds, many of which find themselves sold in giant avian markets.

Many poached birds are also smuggled abroad.

Dwi Adhiasto of the Wildlife Conservation Society believes the birds uncovered from Monday's raid were on their way to the Philippines, given links to "a parrot smuggling network there".

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Bahrain returns over 1,000 rare birds smuggled from Pakistan

Tariq Abul Hasan

March 10, 2017

 
Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Over a thousand rare birds, including baby parrots and nightingales, were smuggled on March 5 to Bahrain in the guise of lovebirds and Australian parrots by collusion of government departments.

Pakistan bars export of parrots and nightingales.

Bahrain authorities on finding about the scam stopped the smuggler from carrying the birds to the country and sent the shipment back to Pakistan on March 8. Dozens of birds died due to starvation.

Officials of the customs and wildlife department as well as a veterinary doctor of a government department were involved in the scam. The individuals, instead of returning the shipment back to the wildlife department, declared the birds as imports and gave the birds back to the importer. No inquiry was conducted against the importer either.

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100 MacQueen's Bustards smuggled in Iranian ship

Earlier this month, coast guards in Kuwait intercepted a ship attempting to smuggle 100 Asian MacQueen's Bustards Chlamydotis macqueenii, recognized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The species is threatened by hunting and trapping throughout its range, particularly in its wintering habitat of Pakistan and Iran. The bird is in high demand in the region for use as live prey in falconry training.

In a press statement issued by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior, the Public Relations and Security Media Department explained that the Coast Guard Department was inspecting foreign ships that were heading to Doha Port, when they discovered the Iranian ship with its load of birds. Also discovered on board were 16 falcons of various species, mostly Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus. 

Kuwait Environment Protection Society (KEPS– BirdLife International’s Kuwaiti partner) investigated the case and confirmed that all the birds on board had been poached from the wild and were being transported without any legal documents. The offenders are currently in custody and will be dealt with according to Kuwaiti law. Commenting on the issue, Wejdan Al-Oqab, KEPS Secretary General, says “There are hundreds of birds, including MacQueen's Bustard and eagles, illegally killed every year”. 

“We are working hard to protect threatened animal populations and work closely with law enforcement agencies to protect biodiversity and enforce national and international wildlife laws to ensure that the trade of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival”. 

Numbers of MacQueen's Bustard have fallen dramatically in recent decades. The species is threatened by a number of factors, including the degradation of their vegetation habitat by livestock grazing, but hunting remains the biggest threat to its future. 

The species is protected under international wildlife treaties. The Asian MacQueen's Bustard is roughly the same size as a turkey and typically has a large, speckled sandy brown upper body, a creamy white underside and long legs, a slender neck and a wingspan that can reach 1.5 meters. Its colouring acts as camouflage in the desert and sandy plains, providing a challenge for hunters and their falcons. 

The MacQueen's Bustard is the game bird of choice for Arab falconers, because it is a good match for the falcons. There is such strong demand for the bird in the region that some hunters are willing to use illicit means to acquire them. 

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