Songbirds to Raptor Eggs, the Looting of Latin America's Bird Species
The case of an infamous Irish trafficker who is facing extradition to Brazil for stealing peregrine falcon eggs has brought attention to the diverse ways in which the region’s avian species are being plundered.
Jeffrey Lendrum is currently completing a prison sentence of three years and one month in the United Kingdom after being arrested in June 2018, having flown in with 19 eggs from endangered birds of prey in South Africa tied to his body, including vultures, eagles, hawks and kites, reported the Telegraph. His smuggled cargo was valued at some 100,000 pounds (around $130,000).
Prosecutors in Brazil, from where he skipped bail in 2016, are now requesting his extradition. He was arrested trying to board a flight from São Paulo to Johannesburg carrying four albino peregrine falcon eggs that he obtained illegally in Chile, which were worth an estimated $80,000 on the black market, the Guardian reported at the time. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in Brazil but skipped bail.
https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/looting-latin-america-bird-species/
