Jaunted

Smuggling

How Not to Smuggle Birds Into Belarus

January 29, 2008 at 9:20 AM | 0 Comments

Usually animal smugglers try to take animals across borders by plane. (Suitcases are good places to hide your chameleon or your snakes.) But last week in Eastern Europe, a less-than-bright smuggler decided to use his bicycle.

A young man coming from Ukraine and heading into Belarus by push bike somehow thought that nobody would notice the 227 parrots he had strapped to his bike in six cramped cages. But they did. When border staff confronted him he dumped his wheels and ran back into Ukraine, never to be seen again.

The 225 parrots that survived the trip were kept at the border crossing overnight before being handed over to state vet inspectors. Let this be a lesson to future animal smugglers: The bicycle is not a practical method. We'd rather just train the parrots to fly over the border themselves and catch 'em on the other side. Not that we'd ever condone bird smuggling.

Related Stories:
· Belarus Border Guards Foil Parrot Smuggler [Reuters]
· Snakes and Crocs on a Plane [Jaunted]
· Still More Snakes on a Plane [Jaunted]

[Photo: valho]