Man charged for endangered bird smuggling
Sun parakeets were among the illegally traded birds.
A Danish man has been convicted of smuggling 43 endangered parrots and parrot eggs, in the country's largest case of its kind.
Authorities received an anonymous tip-off resulting in the man's arrest and a fine of 650,000 kroner, The Copenhagen Post reports.
Profits of 231,000 kroner were also confiscated along with 30 parrots and 11 eggs. Parrot species involved in the case included the Jamaican amazon, the red-capped parrot, the sun parakeet and eclectus parrot. All of these species are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The birds, estimated to be worth five figure sums, were being sold online.
WWF Denmark is now calling for greater penalties for trading endangered animals and plants. This would allow Danish police to acquire suspects' online correspondence and phone records.
Gitte Seeberg, WWF's secretary general, is quoted by The Copenhagen Post as saying: "Without access especially to email correspondence, the police have a very low chance at uncovering large cases of illegal trade in endangered animals and plants."
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
