SHAH ALAM: The Selangor Wildlife Department seized 115 birds, mostly of the parrot species in a raid at a house in Serdang Jaya at 10.30pm Tuesday.
IN SAVE HAND: Rahmat Topani shows the African Gray Parrot to the media during press conference. — Bernama photo
Its director Rahmat Topani said a local man, aged 40, was also detained in the raid but had been released on police bail till Nov 3 pending investigations.
The raid was conducted after members of the public complained that the birds were being kept in the house without permission from the department as required under Section 68 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, he told a press conference here yesterday.
Sixty-four of the birds were Blue Crowned Hanging Parrot (Loriculus galgulus), 33 Blue-rumped parrot (Psittinus cyanurus), seven Long-tailed Parakeet and two Red Whiskered Bulbul (Psycnonotus jocosus), all local species.
Foreign species found were three San Conure (Aratinga solstitialis) chicks and an African Gray Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) chick with the rest non-parrot species.
The total value of the birds was RM12,000 with the African Gray Parrot alone worth above RM2,000 because the species could easily be trained to imitate human speech, said Rahmat. — Bernama