Tony Silva
Tony Silva (born 1960) is an American ornithologist and aviculturist that has authored several books on parrots, hundreds of articles and was curator of birds at Tenerife's Loro Parque, the largest parrot park in the world. He has been heavily involved in the efforts to save the Spix's Macaw.[1]
In 1996, he was arrested and sentenced to 82 months in jail and fined $100,000 for conspiracy to violate wildlife, and tax evasion.[2][3] The smuggling alledgedly involved several threatened species of South American parrots, including Hyacinth Macaws and Vinaceous Amazons.[3] The government's own testimony and subsequent court documents contravened the accusations, as a persusal of court testimony and legal documents involved with the case show (see Silva et al., 94 CR 760-1, District Court, Northern District of Illinois). The government's key witnesses werea highly paid government informant James Mackman and Mario Tabaue, the latter released from jail where he was serving a sentence for drug trafficking and murder in exchange for his testimony. Tony Silva has always claimed his innocense.
References
- ^ Silva, T. (1991). A Monograph of Macaws and Conures, pages 77-94 (Spix's Macaw)
- ^ "A Defender of Rare Birds Is Guilty of Smuggling Them". The New York Times. February 3, 1996. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
- ^ a b Lowther, Jason; Cook, Dee; Roberts, Martin (2002-08-05), Crime and Punishment in the Wildlife Trade (PDF), World Wildlife Fund, retrieved 2007-09-09
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