Seized at the port of Genoa by OIPA ITALY ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICERS(OIPA), 37 birds were found, including 23 zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and 14 Pacific parrotlets (Forpus coelestis). The birds were crammed into two very small carriers hidden in two plastic bags under the seat of a car that was about to be loaded into the hold of a ship bound for Tangier, Morocco. The person who was holding them has been reported for mistreatment (“Article 544 ter of the Penal Code”).

“The Coast Guard called us, finding themselves faced with such a horror,” says Giuliana Luppi, coordinator of OIPA Italy’s animal control officers in Genoa. “The car came from Turin, and it’s a miracle that we found the poor birds still alive. They were facing a 50 hour journey in the hold, where temperatures can become very high. They wouldn’t have survived. They didn’t even have access to a water dispenser.”

The man who was transporting them claimed to have purchased the specimens from a breeding facility in Monza and intended to take them to his country to give them as gifts to children.

The victims of this sort of “trafficking” are now safe in a Wildlife Recovery Center, a facility with aviaries suitable for giving them a dignified life.