It was March 23, 2023, at the airport in Miami, Florida. People from all over the world stood in a long line. They were waiting for airport officers to let them into the U.S.

    Suddenly, strange sounds came from one traveler’s suitcase.

    Chirp, chirp!

    Was that a . . . ?

    Chirp, chirp!

    An officer asked the man to open his bag. It contained a small cooler. Inside the cooler were 28 smooth white bird eggs. There was also a pink chick the size of a jelly bean. This little chick had just broken out of its shell.

    The officer knew the bird needed expert care right away. The airport called scientist Paul Reillo. He’s the director of the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (RSCF). It’s a Florida-based group that protects wildlife. 

    Reillo arrived at the airport a few hours later. By this time, more eggs were already hatching. He quickly set up a special machine. This machine would do what the mother bird would do—keep the birds and eggs warm.

    Later, Reillo and his team would figure out that most of the birds were yellow-naped amazons. This is a kind of endangered parrot from Central America. 

    But how did a bunch of bird eggs end up in a suitcase?

    It was March 23, 2023, at the airport in Miami, Florida. People were standing in line. They were waiting to enter the U.S.

    Suddenly, strange sounds came from one person’s suitcase.

    Chirp, chirp!

    An airport officer asked the man to open his bag. It had a small cooler in it. The cooler held 28 bird eggs and a pink chick. The chick was the size of a jelly bean. It had just broken out of its shell.

    The officer knew the bird needed care. The airport called scientist Paul Reillo. He’s the director of the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (RSCF). It’s a Florida-based group. It protects wildlife.

    Reillo got to the airport a few hours later. More eggs were hatching. He set up a special machine. It would keep the birds and eggs warm—like a mother bird would.

    Later, Reillo and his team figured out that most of the birds were yellow-naped amazons. This is a kind of endangered parrot. It is from Central America.

    But how did the eggs end up in a suitcase?

    It was March 23, 2023, at the airport in Miami, Florida. People from all over the world were standing in a long line, waiting for airport officers to let them into the U.S.

    Suddenly, strange sounds came from one traveler’s suitcase.

    Chirp, chirp!

    Was that a . . . ?

    Chirp, chirp!

    An officer asked the man to open his bag and saw that it contained a small cooler. Inside the cooler were 28 smooth white bird eggs as well as a pink chick the size of a jelly bean. This little chick had just broken out of its shell.

    The officer knew the bird needed expert care right away, so the airport called scientist Paul Reillo. He’s the director of the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (RSCF), a Florida-based group that protects wildlife.

    Reillo arrived at the airport a few hours later. By this time, more eggs were already hatching. He quickly set up a special machine that would do what the mother bird would do—keep the birds and eggs warm.

    Later, Reillo and his team would figure out that most of the birds were yellow-naped amazons, a kind of endangered parrot from Central America.

    To answer that question, it’s important to understand wildlife trafficking. It’s a crime that involves illegally capturing wild animals. 

    Often these animals are rare or endangered. Many are hunted for their body parts, which can be sold. For example, elephants are killed for their tusks. (Tusks are made of a valuable material called ivory.) But other creatures—like the parrots—are captured alive. These animals are then sold as pets.

    Many people are willing to pay a lot to own exotic animals. Those yellow-naped amazon parrots can sell for as much as $5,000—each. So it’s not surprising that criminals do crazy things to steal wild animals. In 2015, airport officers discovered eight baby lizards in someone’s underwear. Other animals have been found stuffed in pant legs or sewn into hidden pockets.

    Wildlife trafficking is big business. Millions of animals are taken from the wild each year. And the problem has been getting worse. The reason is that more people want exotic pets. Experts say social media is partly to blame. Just think about your favorite viral animal video. Maybe it’s a clip of a baby sloth cuddling with its mom. Videos like these melt people’s hearts. People then think that a sweet little sloth might make the perfect pet.

    To answer that question, it’s important to understand wildlife trafficking. It’s a crime. It involves illegally capturing wild animals.

    Often these animals are rare or endangered. Many are hunted for their body parts, which can be sold. For example, elephants are killed for their tusks. (Tusks are made of ivory.) But parrots are captured alive and sold as pets. So are some other creatures.

    Many people will pay a lot to own exotic animals. Those yellow-naped amazon parrots can sell for as much as $5,000—each. So criminals will do crazy things to steal wild animals. In 2015, airport officers discovered eight baby lizards in someone’s underwear. Other animals have been found stuffed in pant legs or sewn into hidden pockets.

    Wildlife trafficking is big business. Millions of animals are taken from the wild each year. And the problem has been getting worse. Why? More people want exotic pets. Experts say social media is partly to blame.

    Think about your favorite animal video. Maybe it’s a clip of a baby sloth. It’s cuddling with its mom. Videos like that melt people’s hearts. Then people want a little sloth as a pet.

    To answer that question, it’s important to understand wildlife trafficking. It’s a crime that involves illegally capturing wild animals.

    Often these animals are rare or endangered. Many of them are hunted for their body parts, which can be sold. For example, elephants are killed for their tusks. (Tusks are made of a valuable material called ivory.) But other creatures—like the parrots—are captured alive and then sold as pets.

    Many people are willing to pay a lot to own exotic animals. Those yellow-naped amazon parrots can sell for as much as $5,000—each. So it’s not surprising that criminals do crazy things to steal wild animals. In 2015, airport officers discovered eight baby lizards in someone’s underwear. Other animals have been found stuffed in pant legs or sewn into hidden pockets.

    Wildlife trafficking is big business, and millions of animals are taken from the wild each year. The problem has been getting worse as more and more people want exotic pets. Experts say social media is partly to blame. Just think about your favorite viral animal video. Maybe it’s a clip of a baby sloth cuddling with its mom. Videos like these melt people’s hearts, and then people start thinking a sweet little sloth might make the perfect pet.

    In June 2023, the Miami parrots were moved. They were taken to a parrot rehabilitation center in California. Scientists there hope they can one day be released back into the wild. 

    For now, the birds seem to be enjoying themselves. They were just moved to a new area with other wild parrots. They’re learning survival skills and flying around together. 

    It’s a fairly happy ending for these animals, which were stolen from their natural home. 

    But it’s not exactly happily ever after.

    That can only happen when the birds are once again soaring through the jungles of Central America—where they truly belong. 

    In June 2023, the Miami parrots were moved. They were taken to a habilitation center for parrots. It’s in California. Scientists there hope to release the parrots back into the wild.

    But for now, the birds seem happy. They were just moved to a new area. It has other wild parrots. They’re learning survival skills. They are flying around.

    It’s a fairly happy ending, but these animals were stolen from their natural home.

    So it’s not exactly happily ever after.

    That can only happen when the birds are back in the jungles of Central America—where they truly belong.

    In June 2023, the Miami parrots were moved to a parrot rehabilitation center. It’s in California, and the scientists there hope the parrots can one day be released back into the wild.

    For now, the birds seem to be enjoying themselves. They were just moved to a new area with other wild parrots, and they’re learning survival skills and flying around together.

    It’s a fairly happy ending for these animals, which were stolen from their natural home.

    But it’s not exactly happily ever after.

    That can only happen when the birds are once again soaring through the jungles of Central America—where they truly belong.