A man was arrested at the Cheddi Jagan airport last Wednesday for attempting to smuggle expensive birds to the United States.
The police report that the man, Dhanraj Deochand, was held as he attempted to take six finches out of the country stashed in hair curlers.
The true finches are small to medium-sized birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colorful plumage. They occupy many habitats where they are usually residents and do not migrate. They have a worldwide distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family Fringillidae contains more than two hundred species divided into fifty genera. It includes species known as siskins, canaries, redpolls, serins, grosbeaks, and euphonias.
According to the police, there have been several attempts to get the birds out of Guyana, and in many cases, the “bird traffickers” are arrested in the United States.
The birds sell for as much as US$10,000 in New York, where they are used in regular whistling competitions.
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