Authorities say a man tried to smuggle the parrot to California after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials noticed “unusual clothing bulges” around his ankles and found six birds stuffed into his boots.
The strange incident occurred on April 30, when a 51-year-old man was pulled aside from Mexico to apply for the U.S. in Otay Mesa.
After an officer asked him to walk out of the vehicle, he found a deformed block on the man's feet. When they patted him, they found the undeclared bird hidden from their boots. According to the CBP, they found six other dead parrots in his car.
“Bird smuggling is extremely dangerous,” Sidney Aki, director of field operations at CBP San Diego, said in a statement. “Birds can also be hosts of a variety of diseases that can threaten local wildlife and the U.S. agricultural industry, with broad economic consequences.”
This is not the last time that the U.S.-Mexico border crossing foiled the only attempt to smuggle livestock in California.
Officials said on May 4, a 26-year-old applied for the United States at the San Isidro entrance, trying to smuggle 16 live parakeets and three live chickens. CBP officers saw a blanket moving inside the man's car and found animals in two cages under it.
According to the CBP, officers found 21 parrots and keel-bone-mouthed while searching for a sedan at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in Tecate last March.
Border Patrol agents detained drivers and passengers in two recent alleged smuggling attempts and transferred them to a Homeland Security Investigation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for further investigations.
The confiscated animals are quarantined at the USDA Veterinary Service to ensure they do not carry any avian diseases such as bird flu.
