a man sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison sentence for trafficking in protected birds

Canaries, Japanese nightingales, bullfinches… A 49-year-old man was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended on probation, by the Bayonne court on Tuesday May 2, for trafficking in protected birds and for the laundering of around 80,000 euros. In 2020, during a search, the state services discovered around fifty birds in a 120 m2 shed in Sare (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

The environmental protection associations, civil parties, had denounced the “lucrative business” of these birds, and in particular that of the European goldfinch, a songbird weighing about fifteen grams that is widely poached in the world. It sells for between 150 euros and 1,000 euros under the coat, according to the League for the Protection of Birds.

The man, who has “damaging the environment”, according to the court, is also prohibited from managing a company for 5 years and will have to pay a fine of 1450 euros. He had disputed having marketed these birds, only recovered “out of passion”. Justice also estimates that 80,000 euros in cash were laundered through transfers and checks drawn up by his mother and sister. The first was sentenced to three suspended prison sentences and the second to a suspended fine of 5,000 euros.