EAGLE PASS, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Customs officers in Eagle Pass didn’t let a parrot pass through their border inspections.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and agriculture specialists at the Camino Real International Bridge made a discovery that was worth squawking about, literally. Inside a small box, they discovered an undeclared, green parrot.
The bird was identified as a Parrotlet, Forpus sp., by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. As it turns out, importing the bird qualified as a violation of the Lacey Act (16 USC 3372), Endangered Species Act (16 USC 1538), and the Wild Bird Conservation Act (16 USC 4910).
To bring a parrot into the United States requires a USFWS import permit and full compliance with the aforementioned federal regulations, authorities said.
The box was found Tuesday when a Dodge Ram pickup was referred to a secondary inspection area, where an agriculture specialist found the bird in the box placed on the floor in the backseat area of the truck, authorities said.
“While conducting their inspections, our officers will often encounter a myriad of prohibited agriculture products,” Acting Port Director Michael Martinez of the Port of Eagle Pass said. “Sometimes these encounters yield hidden exotic animals, such as in this case.”
The parrot was seized and turned over to USFWS.
