Tony Silva

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For other people with similar names, see Antonio da Silva (disambiguation).
Tony Silva
Born1960 (age 63–64)
parrots
  • Wildlife smuggling
    • Criminal charges
    • Conspiracy to smuggle wildlife
    • Tax evasion
    Criminal penalty
    • 82 month prison term
    • $100,000 fine and 200 hours community service
    Criminal statusReleased
    Websitepsittaculture.org

    Tony Silva, also known as Antonio H. Silva (born 1960) is an American

    ornithologist, and the author of books and articles about parrots. From 1989 to 1992, he was curator of birds at Loro Parque, the largest parrot park in the world. In 1996, he was convicted of conspiring to smuggle rare parrots into the United States and of tax evasion.[1]

    Early life and career

    Silva was born in Cuba in 1960 [failed verification] and immigrated to the United States with his parents at a young age.[2] His parents encouraged his love of birds as a hobby to keep him out of trouble, and he began studying, collecting, and breeding birds at age nine.[2] Silva became enamoured with parrots at age 10 when he discovered macaws at a local pet store.[3] When he was in his teens, he became further enamoured after receiving a parakeet.[4] Silva's aviary was originally financed by his father (who owned a company that manufactured television components), later supplemented by his own income from breeding parrots, judging parrot contests, and lecturing and writing about parrots.[4]

    Silva began writing articles about birds at age 16, and by age 20 he had published his first book.

    slender-billed conures in captivity.[4][6] Silva was self-taught and did not attend university, but by age 25 he was already regarded as an authority on parrots and was respected as a successful breeder.[4][7] In 1986, Silva became midwestern regional vice-president of the AFA.[8] By 1987, Silva was operating a pet shop called Tropifauna just outside of Chicago.[9] In August 1989, Silva became Curator of Birds at Loro Parque, Tenerife, Canary Islands, the largest parrot park in the world—a position he held until January 1992.[10] Silva travelled extensively to study parrots in the wild,[3] and wrote hundreds of articles[where?][dubious – discuss] and multiple books about parrots.[2]

    Silva was well known as a conservationist: he was an outspoken opponent of poaching and smuggling,[1] and he was involved in the early efforts to save the Spix's macaw.[11] Although highly respected among aviculturists, he was viewed with skepticism by the scientific community.[12] To some, Silva was merely a popularizer of others' ideas; to others, he was a "charlatan" who promoted wildlife conservation but who was suspected of engaging in illegal wildlife trade as early as 1980.[12]

    Smuggling

    Shortly after Silva started selling birds, he is believed to have begun supplementing his own birds with birds obtained on the black market, before eventually moving into smuggling.[13] Between at least 1986 and 1991, Silva conspired to smuggle protected birds valued at more than $1.3 million into the United States, neglecting to declare this income on his taxes.[14][15][16] While he was working at Loro Parque, Silva's mother ran the smuggling operation on his behalf.[14][15]

    Birds were provided by co-conspirators in

    forged documents so they could be sold on the legal market.[10] Some of the birds were publicly advertised for sale in American Cage-bird Magazine.[10][21]

    Operation Renegade

    Silva was charged with smuggling at least 186 hyacinth macaws into the United States. At the time, each had a street value of $5,000–$12,000.[22]

    In 1989, Silva became a

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).[16] Silva had been brought to the attention of authorities when convicted drug lord Mario Tabraue turned informant, claiming that he had received a shipment of 35 smuggled hyacinth macaws from Silva—which arrived sick and died soon thereafter.[16][5][19] In early 1990, Silva's friend Jim Mackman approached authorities after discovering that Silva had been smuggling protected birds.[14] Between 1990 and 1992, Mackman worked as an undercover informant for USFWS, secretly recording more than 100 conversations with Silva and his mother about their smuggling operation.[14] A search warrant executed on 16 January 1992 resulted in the seizure of 103 parrots, some or all of which were protected or illegally imported.[23] The search also revealed ledgers documenting illegal transactions and photographs of birds that had died en route to Silva; prosecutors alleged that Silva used these photographs to justify withholding payments to his supplier.[19][24]

    Between November 1994 and April 1995, Silva was indicted on 20 charges, including charges of

    vinaceous amazons, cockatoos, flamingos, and toco toucans.[17][24][28] He was suspected of having smuggled Spix's macaws, but this could not be proven.[10]

    On 30 January 1996, Silva pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain to one count of conspiracy to violate wildlife and customs laws and one count of filing a false income tax return.[15][22] He later attempted to reverse his guilty plea,[29] but this was not permitted by the court.[30][31] On 18 November 1996, Silva was convicted of smuggling more than 450 protected birds and seven monkeys into the United States.[32] He was sentenced to 82 months in prison, fined $100,000, and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service during a three-year probationary term after his prison sentence.[28][1][16] At the time, this was the severest-ever sentence for bird smuggling in the United States, imposed by the judge because of "great cruelty" inflicted upon the birds.[28][19]

    Silva was incarcerated at

    FPC Duluth.[33] Appeals of his conviction were unsuccessful,[18][34] as was an attempt to sue the U.S. government for the value of the parrots confiscated during the 1992 search.[23] Silva was released in May 2002.[35]

    Life after prison

    Despite having pleaded guilty, Silva has publicly maintained his innocence, suggesting that he was importing birds to preserve the species rather than for financial gain.[19][24] He has also questioned the credibility of the witnesses against him, and he has alleged impropriety by the U.S. government in pursuit of his conviction.[36][37]

    As of 2016, Silva was working for an energy company and was keeping birds as a hobby,[38] as well as operating a rescue centre.[3] He has continued to remain active in aviculture circles as a writer and lecturer.[19]

    In 2017, Silva and colleagues proposed a new species of parrot: the blue-winged amazon.[39] The existence of the species has been questioned.[40]

    Selected publications

    This is an incomplete list of works by Tony Silva.

    Books
    • Silva, T. & Kotlar, B. (1980). Discus. Tetra Press.
      ISBN 0969264046
    • Silva, T. & Kotlar, B. (1981). Breeding Lovebirds. TFH Publications.
      ISBN 0-87666-831-7
    • Silva, T. & Kotlar, B. (1989). Conures. TFH Publications.
      ISBN 0-86622-739-3
    • Silva, T. (1989). A Monograph of Endangered Parrots. Silvio Mattacchione & Co.
      ISBN 0969264046
    • Silva, T. (1991). Psittaculture: The Breeding, Rearing and Management of Parrots. Silvio Mattacchione & Co.
      ISBN 1895270022
    • Silva, T. (1993). A Monograph Of Macaws and Conures. Silvio Mattacchione & Co.
      ISBN 1895270006
    Peer-reviewed articles
    • Jordan, R., & Silva, T. (1991). Breeding and rearing Salvadori's fig parrot: Psittaculirostris salvadorii at Loro Parque, Tenerife, International Zoo Yearbook 30:173-177.
    • Silva, T. (1994). Breeding the Spix's Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) at Loro Parque, Tenerife, International Zoo Yearbook 33:176-180.
    • Silva, T., Guzmán, A., Urantówka, A.D., & Mackiewicz, P. (2017). A new parrot taxon from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico—its position within genus Amazona based on morphology and molecular phylogeny. PeerJ 5: e3475.

    See also

    References

    1. ^ a b c "Smuggler Of Birds Sentenced". The New York Times. Associated Press. 19 November 1996.
    2. ^ a b c d "High-profile expert on exotic birds is sentenced for smuggling parrots - Nov 18, 1996 - HISTORY.com".
    3. ^ a b c "About Tony Silva". 16 November 2016.
    4. ^ a b c d "Birdhouse".
    5. ^ a b "NOVA - Transcripts - The Great Wildlife Heist - PBS". www.pbs.org.
    6. ^ Dale, Thompson (1981). "Avy Award Winners". AFA Watchbird. 8 (5): 62–63 – via journals.tdl.org.
    7. ISBN 9781596291997
      .
    8. ^ Jerry, Jennings (1986). "President's message". AFA Watchbird. 13 (5): 13–14 – via journals.tdl.org.
    9. ^ "2 Rare Birds Stolen From Burbank Shop".
    10. ^
      ISBN 0743475518
      .
    11. ^ Silva, T. (1993). A Monograph of Macaws and Conures, pages 77-94 (Spix's Macaw)
    12. ^ a b Kenworthy, Tom (2 February 1996). "PARROT EXPERT PLEADS GUILTY TO ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING AFTER 6-YEAR PROBE" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
    13. ^ "Wildlife: Would you stuff this into your suitcase? - Outside Online". 2 May 2004.
    14. ^ a b c d e f "Rare Bird Expert, Mom, To Admit Smuggling Roles".
    15. ^ a b c "Parrot Advocate Admits Smuggling".
    16. ^ a b c d e "A Defender of Rare Birds Is Guilty of Smuggling Them". The New York Times. February 3, 1996. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
    17. ^ a b c Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife. "EXOTIC PARROT EXPERT AND THREE OTHERS INDICTED FOR SMUGGLING EXOTIC BIRDS". www.fws.gov.
    18. ^ a b "United States v. Tony Silva, 122 F.3d 412 – CourtListener.com". CourtListener.
    19. ^ a b c d e f g "Smuggling Endangered Birds, Witness - BBC World Service". BBC.
    20. ^ "Did birdman smuggle endangered species?".
    21. ISBN 978-0762788057
      .
    22. ^ a b "Prominent parrot expert pleads guilty to wildlife and tax felonies: Snared by nationwide probe". AFA Watchbird. 23 (2): 62–63. 30 January 1996 – via journals.tdl.org.
    23. ^ a b "Silva V. United States 2002" (PDF).
    24. ^ a b c "Expert Jailed In Illegal Trade". 12 January 1997.
    25. ^ "Bird Expert Charged With Illegal Sales".
    26. ^ "U.s. Says Bird Expert A Smuggler".
    27. ^ "Parrot Smuggling Suspects Indicted".
    28. ^ a b c d "Bird Smuggler Will Roost In Prison".
    29. ^ "Wrinkle In Parrot Smuggling Case".
    30. ^ "Bird Expert Barred From Reneging Guilty Plea".
    31. ^ "Bird Expert Jailed Pending Sentencing".
    32. doi:10.1126/science.274.5293.1617
      – via science.sciencemag.org.
    33. ^ "TONY SILVA IN COURT - 3 - AMERICANS AGAINST CORRUPTION". www.smuggled.com.
    34. ^ "Silva v. United States, 75 F. Supp. 2d 877 (N.D. Ill. 1999) – CourtListener.com". CourtListener.
    35. ^ "Inmate Locator: Register No. 06402-424". www.bop.gov.
    36. ^ "TONY SILVA - US FWS CORRUPTION ALLEGED". www.smuggled.com.
    37. ^ Silva, Tony (August 1995). "Tony Silva Responds" (PDF). PsittaScene. Vol. 7, no. 3. Cornwall, UK: World Parrot Trust. p. 14. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
    38. ^ "Tony Silva interview parrot breeding". www.parrotsdailynews.com. 29 March 2016.
    39. PMID 28674651
      .
    40. PMID 30313559
      – via www.mapress.com.

    External links
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Silva&oldid=1214102932"