Smuggled across the border: The story of Echo the Amazon

President Donald Trump promised to enforce immigration laws on undocumented immigrants along with building a wall between the United States and Mexico.

However, Echo the Double Yellow-Headed Amazon is one "immigrant" who will never be able to return to her home in Mexico. She was taken from her nest in the wild and was shoved in a box with three other male Amazons where they would be smuggled into the US.

Even though the Wild Bird Population Act of 1992 made it illegal to capture wild birds and import them to the US, parrots like Echo are in high demand due to their ability to mimic and sing.

In other Central and South American countries, many species of Amazon parrots are smuggled and trafficked worldwide to meet the demand of the pet trade. Benjamin Elisha Shaw with World Atlas said Amazons are illegally traded in large numbers throughout Europe and the US. From 2007-2014, 1373 Amazon parrots were caught being illegally trafficked.

Echo's trafficker was driving from Mexico to the US when his SUV rolled over and crashed, killing one of the Amazons and injuring the other two males. Echo was lucky because she was the least injured.

This is the story that Fish and Wildlife gave to Curator of Mammals and Birds Scott Chambers. Chambers works with all of the birds and parrots at Living Planet Aquarium.

"We definitely know she was illegally caught, smuggled across the border illegally, probably kept as a pet and moved around a lot with the other parrots," Chambers said.

Echo's smuggler was caught in Texas and Echo, along with some other smuggled animals, were taken to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. There was no room at Gladys Porter for Echo, but Chambers took her in when Fish and Wildlife asked if the aquarium could take her.

Smuggled animals, especially exotic pets, don't have a lot of options since they cannot return to the wild.

"We try to help Fish and Wildlife as much as we can," Chambers said. "They only have two alternatives for confiscated animals: they find somewhere else for it or it's euthanized, so we'd rather make sure it lives somewhere and has a long life."

Birds like Echo cannot be released in the wild once they've been in captivity for a number of years. Since Echo was captive for over two years, Chambers said there is no way she could survive on her own because of the habits she picked up.

"If she were released, she would probably think 'What do I do? I'm too fat to fly!'"

Lauren Mallo, an animal keeper and trainer who works with Echo, said Echo has been removed from the wild for so long that she no longer flies like a wild Amazon parrot should.

"She can do it, but she just no longer wants to," Mallo said.

Despite being in captivity, Echo is happy and spoiled at the Living Planet Aquarium.

Because of the way she has been handled by males in the past, Echo only likes being around female workers at Living Planet. Even though Chambers has worked with her for over two years, Echo is still cautious around him.

"The only time I've ever been bit by one of the parrots here was by Echo, and that is because she does not like men," Chambers said. "I don't blame her. If I was grabbed by a man and shoved in a box, I would have trust issues too."

[Photo credit: Mariana Chrisney]