Customs officials at New York’s JFK Airport discovered 35 live finches hidden on a man from Guyana who hoped to earn $ 3,000 from transporting these birds used for singing competitions in Brooklyn. The man wore small cylindrical cases closed with a wire mesh to let the birds breathe. He had a dozen of them attached to his jacket lining and the rest wrapped around his ankles. The suspect was arriving from Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, in South America.
Over $ 10,000 per finch
Finches are prized for their song, which is both joyful and melodious. Singing competitions are held regularly in parks in the New York neighborhoods of Queens and Brooklyn, and are the subject of bets. A finch winning several competitions can trade over $ 10,000. There are finches in the United States but some specimens born in Guyana are in great demand because their song is considered one of the best. The man arrested was presented Tuesday to a federal judge, who released him on payment of a deposit of 25,000 dollars. According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, some 20,762 seizures of wild animals were made in 2017 worldwide, last global figure available.
–
