Brazil Police Investigate Breeding Center Amid Virus Threat to Critically Endangered Spix’s Macaw
Brazilian federal police raided the Spix’s Macaw Breeding Centre as part of “operation Blue Hope,” seizing cellphones and computers, authorities announced today. The investigation centers on concerns that the center failed to implement biosafety protocols, potentially contributing to the spread of circovirus – a disease causing beak and feather disease in parrots – among the remaining Spix’s macaws.
The ICMBio, Brazil’s Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, has levied a 1.8 million real ($587,000) fine against the breeding center. The probe could lead to charges related to spreading a disease harmful to wildlife and obstructing environmental inspections.
The Spix’s macaw is considered nearly extinct in the wild, with conservation efforts elaborate by institutional conflict and concerns over illegal trading. The breeding center, a partner of the German Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP) – wich holds roughly 75% of the world’s registered Spix’s macaws – has faced scrutiny for resisting a court order in October to recapture and release macaws into their native habitat.
While the breeding center reports only five of 103 macaws under its care have tested positive for circovirus, arguing the species exhibits greater resistance than other parrot populations, ICMBio maintains it utilized rigorous testing methods, acknowledging interpretation of results is “not simple.”
the investigation follows Brazil’s 2024 termination of its partnership with ACTP after the association sold 26 Spix’s macaws to a private zoo in India without Brazil’s consent. Brazil has repeatedly voiced concerns to Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regarding loopholes enabling the sale of captive-bred Spix’s macaws and driving demand for the vulnerable species. The plight of the Spix’s macaw gained international attention through the animated film Rio, which depicts the species’ struggle for survival.