London - In what must be one of the most bizarre attempts to smuggle endangered wildlife, police have rescued more than 20 rare parrots stuffed into 1.5-litre plastic water bottles.
The smuggler had cut the ends off the bottles before cramming the yellow-crested cockatoos inside so he could sneak them through customs when his ferry docked at Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Indonesia. But the birds, which can grow to 27in and sell for £650 (about R12 000) each, were spotted and the man was arrested.
Yellow-crested cockatoos are critically endangered, with fewer than 7 000 in the wild. Thousands of these and other parrots are caught illegally in Indonesia each year, with 40 percent dying during smuggling.
Daily Mail