Hi Tweeters -

I just received this from FWS News. I thought it would be of interest to
all lovers of wild birds.

Pet bird lovers please note - the end consumer (you) could not possibly
know that these birds were illegally smuggled into the country. They
were being sold as if they were raised here. The owner of the store
where you bought the bird might not know either. Some of the smugglers
were commercial bird importers. Others sold to aviculturists,
wholesalers and retailers. Worst of all, one of the men convicted was a
prominent spokesman for the protection of exotic birds!

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

Cathi Pelletier
Waterbury, CT
Heronwing at juno.com
LONG LIVE OPERATION RENEGADE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Subject:
> Smuggling birds = Jail Time
> Date:
> Wed, 30 July 1997 12:25:00 -0600 (MDT)
> From:
> Mitch Snow <mitch_snow at mail.fws.gov>
>Reply-To:
> fws-news at dataadmin.irm.r9.fws.gov
> To:
> fws-news at dataadmin.irm.r9.fws.gov


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>
>For release July 29, 1997 Hugh Vickery 202-208-1456
>
>SMUGGLING BIRDS EQUALS JAIL TIME FOR
>"OPERATION RENEGADE'S" 38TH CONVICTION
>
>A Florida bird importer arrested as part of the U.S. Fish and
>Wildlife
>Service's highly successful "Operation Renegade" has been sentenced
>to a year
>and a day in prison for illegally smuggling more than 4,000 "Congo"
>African
>grey parrots into the United States and filing false importation
>documents.
>
>Federal Judge Edward B. Davis also ordered Adolph "Buzz" Pare, 63,
>of Miami,
>Florida, to pay $300,000 in fines and restitution, the largest sum
>ever levied
>against a defendant in a federal wildlife smuggling case.
>
>Pare conspired to smuggle African grey parrots, listed as a
>protected species
>under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species
>on Fauna and
>Flora (CITES) from Zaire to Senegal and then on to the United
>States. The
>CITES export permits falsely stated that the parrots originated in
>Guinea or
>the Ivory Coast, countries where the "Congo" African grey parrot
>does not occur
>in the wild.
>
>Pare is the 38th person to be convicted as a result of "Operation
>Renegade," a
>three-year undercover investigation by Service law enforcement
>agents into
>smuggling rings that brought exotic birds, such as parrots or
>macaws, or their
>eggs into the United States. Twenty-three of these defendants have
>received
>prison sentences totaling more than 47 years and fines totaling
>more than a
>half a million dollars.
>
>Most prominently, a federal court in Chicago sentenced Tony Silva
>to 7 years in
>jail without parole and $100,000 in fines in November 1996. Silva,
>an
>internationally recognized expert and outspoken protector of exotic
>birds, was
>convicted of conspiring to smuggle into the country some of the
>world's most
>endangered, beautiful and protected wild birds.
>
>In another case, William Wegner of La Jolla, California, is serving
>a 5-year
>prison term after being convicted of smuggling 800 cockatoo eggs
>worth $1.5
>million into the country from Australia over an 8 year period.
>
>Smugglers known as "mules" collected viable cockatoo eggs from nest
>trees then
>smuggled them into the United States in home-made vests worn
>underneath their
>outer clothing. The vests held up to 40 eggs in individual pockets
>next to the
>smuggler's body allowing the eggs to continue to incubate and even
>hatch during
>the flight. Chicks from the eggs that hatched en route were
>destroyed by the
>smugglers, while offspring from eggs successfully smuggled into the
>states were
>sold as if legally raised by breeders in the United States.

>"Working undercover in Operation Renegade, the Service's law
>enforcement agents
>put a real hurt on these bird smuggling operations," said Acting
>Service
>Director John Rogers. "The 38 convictions stand as a warning to
>anyone else
>who would jeopardize the future of parrots, macaws or other birds
>for personal
>profit."
>
>Other successful prosecutions, achieved in cooperation with the
>Division of Law
>Enforcement in the Service's Southwest Region, included 10
>individuals
>convicted of being part of a decade-long conspiracy to smuggle
>various species
>of parrots found in Mexico and Central and South America into the
>United States
>for resale to aviculturists and bird wholesalers and retailers.
>These
>defendants, convicted in Corpus Christi and Austin, Texas, received
>a total of
>17 years incarceration for their crimes.
>
>In Miami, three other commercial bird importers were convicted in
>addition to
>Pare. One, Richard Furzer, smuggled thousands of African grey
>parrots into the
>country using falsified permits.
>He pled guilty to additional offenses in Los Angeles and was
>sentenced to 18
>months in jail and ordered to pay $75,000 restitution.
>
>Another commercial bird importer, Louie Mantas, is a fugitive from
>justice who
>faces both smuggling charges and an additional charge for flight
>from
>prosecution. Mantas fled after posting bond.
>
>Smuggling parrots and other exotic birds into the United States
>poses a serious
>threat to wild populations in their native habitats in Africa,
>Australia, and
>Central and South America. Consequently, all parrots have been
>protected by
>trade restrictions imposed by CITES and some under the Endangered
>Species Act.
>
>For some species, very few birds remain in the wild. The hyacinth
>macaw, found
>primarily in Brazil, for example, has a wild population of only
>2,000 to 5,000
>birds.
>
>In 1993, Congress passed the Wild Bird Conservation Act, banning
>trade in
>virtually all wild, exotic birds. The U.S. trade in exotic birds
>today is
>limited to those species commonly bred by aviculturists in
>captivity.
>
>Service law enforcement agents were assisted in "Operation
>Renegade" by the
>U.S. Customs Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
>Service, local
>police in Austin, Texas, and officials from many foreign countries.
>
>-FWS-
>
>
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Cathi Pelletier
Waterbury, CT
Heronwing at juno.com