Of­fi­cers from the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) and the Agri­cul­ture Forestry Di­vi­sion yes­ter­day cracked a sus­pect­ed wildlife smug­gling op­er­a­tion af­ter a search for arms and am­mu­ni­tion and in­stead re­sult­ed in the seizure of more than 250 birds, in­clud­ing feath­er­less ba­by macaws.

Act­ing on in­tel­li­gence, po­lice of­fi­cers went to Barataria to ex­e­cute a search war­rant for il­le­gal arms and am­mu­ni­tion. How­ev­er, Forestry game war­dens had to be called in when a large num­ber of an­i­mals in crates, box­es and cages was dis­cov­ered at the lo­ca­tion.

The birds in­clud­ed blue and gold macaws and feath­er­less ba­by macaws, par­rots, para­keets, bullfinch­es and pi­coplats. Al­so seized was a ca­puchin mon­key. All are pro­tect­ed species in T&T re­quir­ing per­mits for pos­ses­sion. In­ves­ti­ga­tions are be­ing con­duct­ed to de­ter­mine their place of ori­gin and how they ar­rived in T&T.

The an­i­mals were tak­en by the game war­dens to the Em­per­or Val­ley Zoo. (Gail Alexan­der)

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