LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. (AP) — The 24 bright green baby parrots chirp and bob their heads the second anyone nears the large cages that have been their homes since hatching in March 2023. The Central American natives were seized from a smuggler at Miami International Airport in March. They’re being raised by the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation. It was the hatchlings’ faint chirping inside a carry-on bag at the airport that brought them to the attention of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. The passenger had just arrived from Managua, Nicaragua, and was heading to Taiwan. He pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling and faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced in August.
Carolyn Page Smith, an animal care specialist with the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation, tends to young yellow-naped and red-lored Amazon parrots in Loxahatchee, Fla., Friday, May 19, 2023. According to a criminal complaint, a smuggler was caught with 29 parrot eggs at Miami International Airport in late March when the eggs began hatching in his carry-on bag while in transit. The RSCF is raising the 24 surviving parrots while looking for a long-term home for the birds. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Chirping sounds lead airport officials to bag filled with smuggled parrot eggs
May 28, 2023 | 1:04 PM
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