OC Smuggler Found With 90 Dead Songbirds Pleads Guilty

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA — A man who described himself as the "Jane Goodall to the Asian Bird World" pleaded guilty to smuggling nearly 100 tiny Asian songbirds in his luggage on a flight from Vietnam. Most of the tiny, colorful birds died in transit according to reports.

Kurtis Law, a 50-year-old Fountain Valley resident, could spend the next two years behind bars for trafficking the little birds that died under horrific conditions according to prosecutors.

The protected birds found in Law's luggage were Bali myna, Chinese hwamei, red-billed leiothrix and silver-eared mesia.

Such birds are sold illegally at some Chinese markets in Southern California and are thought to bring good luck.

The colorful birds worth over $90,000 on the black market, were brought into the United States on March 24 of this year. The Los Angeles International Airport investigators determined that the birds were protected under the federal Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and all were at risk of extinction.

"(Law) individually wrapped and placed each bird in his suitcases under horrific conditions in a way that allowed each bird little to no movement," Prosecutors said. "Law is a large-scale trafficker in protected birds for profit--birds that risk extinction because of traffickers like him."

Law's attorney countered that there is no evidence that his client was attempting to profit from the sale of the birds. His attorney has recommended probation in lieu of jail time.

Documents from the court show that the songbirds can be purchased in Southeast Asia for between $1 to $2 each, and they can be sold for as much as $1,000 in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real heard from a prosecutor, Law's attorney and the 50-year-old defendant himself, but delayed imposing a sentence until Oct. 16. The judge said he needed time to "think it out."

Wikicommons photo, KRiZcPEc