Bird smuggler jailed
In March this year, Harry Sissen was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and ordered to pay costs of around US$8,000 after being found guilty of smuggling Lear’s Macaws (Anodorhynchus leari) and other parrots into the United Kingdom. The UK’s Custom and Excise division brought the case and Dr Nigel Collar from the BirdLife Secretariat in Cambridge was called upon to give expert evidence about Lear’s Macaws, a Critically Endangered species which is found exclusively in north-eastern Brazil where only tiny populations exist. Also called upon as an expert witness was Carlos Yamashita, who has studied Lear’s Macaws in Brazil for many years. It is hoped that the tough UK stance on this issue will be followed throughout the rest of world so that the illegal trade in threatened species can be drastically reduced.
World Birdwatch 22(2)