How Spanish CITES officials abused their power to push an animal-rights agenda
For 40 years, a team of respected Spanish parrot breeders have worked with Spanish CITES officials and operated within the law.
Then, in January 2022, a new CITES team was formed. Armed with an animal-rights agenda, they undertook a series of raids on animal keepers across mainland Spain and the Canary Islands, seizing hundreds of animals.
Many of these animals subsequently died, including valuable specimens and endangered species.
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SCRIPT
Listen, listen carefully.
They came here saying, it is clandestine, and it wasn't.
They they thought it was illegal, it wasn't at all.
In June 2022, a highly respected parrot-breeding facility in Vigo, Spain, was raided by CITES officials and the Spanish Civil Guard. 48 birds, including many babies and eggs were seized.
The police came here with an, they, I don't know how to say that, when the police came and and do that.
- Oh, they handcuffed him?
They handcuffed him. It was ridiculous.
- ridiculous
It was too much. Ten minutes after they took all the stuff, they phoned, because they didn't know how to treat the birds. We had to borrow (lend) the breeders with heating and also the food for these babies, you know? They didn't have any.
It was really horrible, you know. It was like a confiscation. You understand what I mean?
- Yeah.
Well, after that, in a couple of weeks, the birds start dying.
The facility has strict record-keeping procedures, that not only prove the birds’ legal status but also contain information vital for their welfare.
Everything everything is controlled here. You know, have you heard the word traceability?Everything is under control.
As you can see, everything is with data, who is the owner, the day it was hatched, you know? And in ten minutes, we click and we know everything. We had documentation of all the eggs, the chicks, and they didn't want to accept that.
Despite having proof their birds were legal, the breeders were charged with trafficking protected species. But when the case went to court. The breeders won.
We went to the judge saying, “Pay attention to that.” She gave the document saying, “Return the birds immediately to the guys.”
The court said everything was legal.
By this point, nine baby grey parrots, macaws and American parrots had sadly died. Now the breeders are turning the tables, taking the CITES officials to court. And they want to send a message to animal rights campaigners that they will not be bullied.
Now is our turn. Ucha and all the others that have these birds here, we sent the court to them. They have to pay everything - all the court costs, all the birds that died.
All this happened because Spanish CITES officials abused their powers to push an unjustified animal-rights agenda.
Why they did that? They only, they are doing their job in base of an ideological criteria. They do not pay attention to the law.
- They only want their ideology to be in place here.
Yeah, yeah. They did that without authorisation, you know? They are, really they are now very nervous about that.
- I imagine.
