A joint operation by ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) and Brazil’s Federal Police removed 69 Spix’s macaws from a breeding facility in Curaçá, Bahia state, on Wednesday morning (27) to transfer them to Cemafauna at Univasf (Federal University of the São Francisco Valley), in Petrolina, Pernambuco state. The goal is to protect the birds from circovirus, an incurable disease that has already infected at least 34 specimens at the site. The action, the second phase of Operation Blue Hope, carried out search and seizure warrants authorized by a federal court in Juazeiro.Previous inspections found failures to comply with biosafety protocols. The breeding facility was notified and fined R$1.8 million ($359,000). Its owner, Ugo Vercillo, a former ICMBio employee, was not present. The facility said it received the operation with "perplexity," arguing that recent tests came back negative for the virus — a claim disputed by ICMBio.
Alongside the Spix’s macaws, two blue-winged macaws were also transferred. The 34 infected birds remained in Curaçá. The transferred birds will be tested over the coming weeks. Reintroduction into the wild will only resume if the birds are free of the virus.
