Parrots returned home to Mexico
December 21, 2004 — Filed in: Conservation
Birds seized from smugglers will be released into wild
Parrots intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border and cared for by U.S. officials during a months-long quarantine were returned to Mexico at the Otay Mesa border crossing yesterday. The birds transferred yesterday were among more than 170 seized in two border busts in August and October.
The exotic birds were hatched in the Mexican tropics but wound up as contraband headed to a swap meet in Los Angeles. They never made it because their smugglers couldn’t get past border inspectors.
