A thief of birds valued at more than $10,000 was arrested this weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, after going on the run.
Damian Ramallo, 44, faces several felony charges, including armed robbery and grand theft for stealing some 69 birds, according to a news release. Local 10 News.
According to authorities, Ramallo stole 69 valuable birds from their cages at a Lake Worth Beach home.
The loot consisted of 20 cockatoos, 10 baby cockatoos, 20 doves, 15 canaries and four parakeets that were stolen from a home.
Police said the estimated value of the birds is over $10,000.
Surveillance video at the house from which the birds disappeared showed the suspect, whom police identified as Ramallo, in the act. The defendant is expected to appear before a judge on Monday.
Last year, a Cuban living in Madison, Wisconsin, was arrested for illegally selling migratory birdsaccording to reports from the authorities.
Jorge Luis Iglesias, 60, was charged with three charges for the illegal sale of yellow-faced Grassquits -known in Cuba as tomeguín de la tierra- on April 21, May 5 and December 29, 2020.
In Cuba, the smuggling of migratory birds is not uncommon either.
The illegal hunting and sale of birds that arrive on the island in migratory waves have increased and on social networks poachers offer birds that they capture with trap cages, or through nets or meshes, in which more birds are trapped.
Species like the tiles and cut throats have been sold for between 400 to 600 pesoswhile butterflies reach up to a thousand pesos.
