Animal, detained at Sheremetyevo customs in Moscow, finds a new home

Jaco, or a grey parrot, one of the first "pets" detained by the customs service of Sheremetyevo-2 airport in Moscow has found a new home in the Centre for Confiscated Animals. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) described this event as "a turning point in the fight against illegal international trade in wild nature animals", the Fund's representatives remarked in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The first centre for confiscated animals under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora was recently set up in Russia. The grey parrot is included in a supplement to the Convention as a species which can be endangered if trade in it is not strictly regulated." Jaco arrived in Moscow as part of the luggage of a man who said he was carrying the bird from Larnaki, Cyprus, to Novosibirsk. The feathered luggage was confiscated due to its master's lacking an original veterinary certificate and a permit from the organisation regulating international trade in wild nature.

The parrot has been accommodated in the quarantine zone of the centre, which is also called the Animals' Centre under the IFAW.

According to the Fund, the first Animals' Centre was opened in Russia with the assistance from the Natural Resources Ministry on October 3rd on the basis of the biological station of Moscow Lomonosov University. The Centre is situated 25 km away from Sheremetyevo-2 airport on Moscow-St. Petersburg highway.

The bird's state is satisfactory, the Fund reported, but it cannot fly due to the lack of flight feather on its left wing. No signs of captive breeding - the marking with a non-removable ring - have been found. Besides examination and accommodation, staffers of the IFAW have worked out a special menu for the first settler of the Centre.

The Centre's interior which cost $150,000 was provided for by a grant allocated by the IFAW with due account for the living conditions necessary for exotic animals confiscated at the customs. The Centre will be financed by the IFAW in the first year of its activity, the Fund representatives noted.