Indonesian police found more than 60 parrots stuffed into plastic water bottles on a ship docked in the Papua region, authorities said Friday.
Police in the town of Fakfak said the vessel’s crew reported hearing noises coming from a large box. When they looked in it, they found 64 black-capped lories who were still alive. Ten had died from their injuries.
Black-capped lories are a type of parrot native to New Guinea and nearby smaller islands.
“The ship’s crew told us that they suspected there were animals inside the box as they heard strange noises,” said local police spokesman Dodik Junaidi. No arrests had been made so far, and it was unclear where the birds were going to, he added.
The jungles of Indonesia are home to more than 130 threatened bird species, according to the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. But there is also large-scale illegal trading of these birds.
The animals are sold at giant bird markets in Indonesia’s major cities or smuggled abroad. Exotic birds are usually poached and trafficked by smuggling gangs for sale as pets and status symbols.
Source: AFP
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