Father Mike, mother Johanne, and son Harold:  the Flikkema family of Flikkema Aviaries in Ontario, Canada  have all been investigated, arrested, and now sentenced  for their collective roles in an international wild bird   smuggling scheme. In July 2000, the father-son duo was fined $75,000 by the Ontario Court of Justice and Mike Flikkema was also sentenced to three months in jail.

Flikkema Aviaries was previously fined $8,500 a year ago for four charges related to worldwide illegal bird trafficking. Included in this illegal activity was the importation into Canada of two highly endangered Illiger Macaws. Michael Flikkema has reportedly been fined as far back as 1982 for offenses related to bird smuggling.

The current charges resulted from a 17-month collaborative investigation between Environment Canada and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, during which the Flikkemas illegally imported and exported thousands of threatened and endangered birds such as tropical finches, parakeets, and mynas. According to Environment Canada, they faced a total of 483 charges under Canada’s Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act.

Gary Colgan, Chief of Wildlife Enforcement for the Canadian Wildlife Service, said, “Smuggling wild birds is a highly profitable, criminal enterprise that jeopardizes the world’s most vulnerable animals… A high percentage of these birds die when captured from the wild, making the situation even more tragic.”

Matriarch Johanne Flikkema faces charges similar to her husband and son in Canada, but first must serve out a six-month sentence handed down in Buffalo, New York on June 1, 2000 for illegally importing over 200 African finches into the US through Canada. She was also fined $7,500. Mrs. Flikkema’s imprisonment is the first under the federal Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992. The Society for Animal Protective Legislation, AWI’s companion organization, played a leading role in this important law’s enactment.

Photo, Green singing finch, one of the species of birds smuggled by Flikkema Aviaries. (Peter LaTourette)