A few days ago, Xiamen Customs seized 72 parrot eggs from within an inward passenger’s luggage. Parrots are restricted in entry and exit as China’s Class-Ⅱ Protected Wild Animals listed in Appendix Ⅱ of the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)”.
The passenger, sealing up 72 parrot eggs in lunch box with cotton wool, lied to the Customs that those eggs were pigeons’ as his dessert in journey and he actually intended to bring the parrot eggs inward. Because the storage and carry means were not fit for hatching, 13 eggs of the 72 could not be hatched and some baby parrots died.
After the incident, investigators took action in Fuzhou and Xiamen, seizing 5 criminal suspects and 89 smuggled parrots and 72 eggs involving lorikeet, scarlet macaw, eclectus, and amazona. It is found out that, since May 2016, the gang has smuggled inward 300 parrot eggs or so through self-carry and sold the hatched parrots.
Parrot eggs seized by Xiamen Customs from a passenger’s luggage
Some baby parrots hatched out of the eggs
Some baby parrots hatched out of the eggs