Friend convicted for green-wing macaw transport

[Rade]

Hi everyone,
I believe this is not a usual topic here, but here it is. One of my friends was transporting macaw from Belgia to Bulgaria with legal documents of bird registration and a vet certificate. They arrested him at the Serbian border with the conviction of "Illegal transport of endangered species." They took the parrot to the local zoo and a friend to the jail. I'm in desperate need of your help to find documents to show in court that the greenwing macaw is not an endangered species, and it's not required to have CITES documents like appendix 1 species. Please help!

 

[Cottonoid]

Oh gosh this sounds awful, how traumatic for both of them!!!

 

[Cottonoid]

Here's a link to the CITES appendices - it's not very mobile friendly but Ara chloropterus is not listed in appendix I (I believe it's II but I didn't look that far down)

https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php

Does your friend or you have any way to get additional proof their bird is a greenwing and not another macaw species? In case the vet paperwork hasn't been enough? Purchase paperwork, contact info of the breeder who could write an email, etc?

 

[Terry57]

I'm so sorry that this happened to your friend.

Here is the Cites list that shows that Green-winged macaws are Appendix II.

Checklist of CITES Species

Explanation of Appendix II:

The CITES Appendices

I hope that your friend is released soon and can get his bird back as well.

@Cottonoid , you beat me to it

 

[Cottonoid]

@Terry57 you found the actual pages, awesome!

@Rade I read through one of the Serbia annual reports which list all the actions taken and which species. The year I read, they mentioned a 4-month sentence for 2 B&G macaws was thrown out.

So to me, that's a bit of hope that this will all be tossed out in court.

They also do NOT euthanize or keep animals in total isolation - they specifically state that animals go to specific zoos or are rehabilitated to the wild where appropriate (if they aren't returned to where they were stolen from in the case of smuggling) - it actually sounded like they really try to have the animal's best interest in mind so I'm keeping you and your friend in my thoughts!

 

[Rade]

Well, it seems like they think he tried to smuggle the bird. But he did have documents. I will update here in the thread soon with the situation! Thank you all! <3