(Above: Nexstar Media Wire video on endangered versus threatened species)
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A man from San Diego appeared in federal court this week after being accused of attempting to smuggle 17 exotic birds into the United States from Mexico.
According to a complaint, Ricardo Alonzo, 26, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers while trying to cross through the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said.
During a search of his vehicle, officers found four bags with 10 burrowing parakeets, five yellow-crowned Amazon parrots and two red-lored Amazon parrots under the rear seat.
The two red-lored Amazon chicks who were in Alonzo’s vehicle died and were transferred to a quarantine facility managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, prosecutors stated.
The announcement came just about a week after CBP officers announced they recently stopped previous attempts to smuggle 27 parrots and three chickens into the U.S. at both the Otay Mesa and San Ysidro ports of entry.
Amazon parrots are a native species to Mexico, the West Indies and northern South America, and burrowing parakeets are native to Chile and Argentina, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All species of Amazon parrots and the burrowing parakeets are listed as endangered species.
If successfully smuggled into the country, authorities deem them dangerous due to the possibility of them carrying and spreading Avian influenza (bird flu), the attorney’s office stated.
Bird flu is highly contagious and may lead to severe symptoms or death in humans and other birds, including poultry on U.S. farms.
Alonzo faces charges of importation contrary to law and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison plus a $250,000 fine.
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