San Diego man sentenced to prison for smuggling parrots, parakeets across border

A San Diego man was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court to three months in prison for smuggling protected parrots and parakeets into the United States, sans the required quarantines to prevent the spread of diseases.

Ricardo Alonzo, 27, was ordered to pay $3,262 in restitution to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the cost of care and quarantine of the parakeets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

Of the 17 birds Alonzo smuggled, three died.

“This defendant used illegal smuggling practices that disregarded the laws of the United States, the lives of the birds he was smuggling, and wildlife within the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “Our office is committed to holding accountable anyone who endangers wildlife and the public.”

“This investigation highlights the critical work our law enforcement officers undertake to protect wildlife and natural resources from exploitation,” said Assistant Director Doug Ault of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement.

“Alonzo undermined the vital conservation of vulnerable populations of Burrowing Parakeets, Yellow-Crowned Amazon Parrots, and Red-Lored Amazon Parrots by illegally removing them from their habitat and smuggling them into the U.S., circumventing controls meant to prevent the entry of zoonotic diseases and other pathogens into the U.S. This investigation demonstrates the strong collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Justice in bringing wildlife traffickers to justice,” Ault said.

Alonzo crossed the border on May 4, 2025 through the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to court records and evidence presented in court.

The court found that the defendant lied twice during inspection, saying that he had nothing to declare. Upon a secondary inspection, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer took notice of some lunch box-sized bags hidden under the car’s back seat.

Officers found three chickens and 17 juvenile birds within the bags. Later, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services inspector identified the birds as 10 Burrowing Parakeets, five Yellow-Crowned Amazon Parrots, and two Red-Lored Amazon Parrots.

The parakeets and parrots were young birds of various ages. The attorney’s office added that they were likely only between one week and a few months old, as some appeared too young to even fully walk.

Burrowing parakeets typically call Chile and Argentina home. As for the Yellow-Crowned Amazon Parrots and Red-Lored Amazon Parrots, they are native to Mexico, the West Indies, and northern South America. All three of the species of fowl are protected and endangered under the Appendix II to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

To import these birds legally requires following a particular process in which the birds must be subject to quarantine before being integrated into the U.S. since many animals carry diseases that can be transferred to humans (zoonotic diseases).

Birds can carry and spread psittacosis, histoplasmos and avian influenza (bird flu), which is highly contagious and can cause flu-like symptoms, respiratory illness, pneumonia and even death in humans and other birds, including poultry farms, the attorney’s office said.