From Texas Parks & Wildlife
AUSTIN— This week, a federal grand jury returned indictments charging six Cuban nationals from Houston with illegal trafficking of migratory songbirds, violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Lacey Act.
The joint investigation led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement Special Agents and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Texas Game Wardens led to the seizure of more than 300 illegally trapped songbirds.
“Texas Game Wardens have a long, proud history of working alongside the USFWS Office of Law Enforcement to protect wildlife species found throughout the state, and this case is just the latest success from this partnership,” said Colonel Chad Jones, director of Law Enforcement for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).
The scheme allegedly involved the illegal trapping and selling of protected songbirds, including indigo buntings, painted buntings, rose-breasted grosbeaks, blue grosbeaks and house finches, among others.
The birds are often used in singing competitions in which the participating owners gamble thousands of dollars on the winning birds.