Bogota, Aug 30 (IANS/EFE) Colombian police have seized 170 canaries which are highly prized for their singing. The birds were being transported in boxes in a bus traveling along a highway in the northern province of Bolivar.
The commander of the Bolivar police, Col. Hugo Casas, told reporters that the birds were seized in the hamlet of Calamar and that police arrested one man.
Apparently, the canaries were to have been sold in the nearby city of Barranquilla, capital of the province of Atlantico.
The birds were turned over to the Environmental Police, which will take the appropriate steps to have them returned to their natural habitat, Casas said.
Authorities are investigating whether the arrested man is part of a network of traffickers in endangered species, given that this is the second shipment of birds seized in the past two weeks in that part of the country.
On the previous occasion, authorities seized 100 canaries that were also being transported aboard a bus.
Police operations that are being staged in that part of Colombia are aimed at ending the trafficking of species such as boa constrictors, small alligators, iguanas and others, all species that are sold for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities.
Colombia is the country with the greatest number of bird species, at latest count some 1,876.
