Brazil police probe plight of near-extinct blue parrot as lethal virus threatens last Spix’s macaws

The breeding centre in Brazil argues that circovirus is not necessarily a death sentence for the Spix's macaw. Photo / Getty Images

Brazilian police say they are probing the outbreak of a lethal virus among some of the last Spix’s macaws, one of the world’s rarest birds – made famous as the blue parrot in the 2011 animated film Rio.

Until recent efforts to rewild the endangered species, the Spix’s macaw had not been seen in its natural habitat for 25 years. Its conservation has sparked tensions between private breeders and the Government.

In 2020, a group of the birds was brought from Germany under a programme to reintroduce them to their natural habitat in northeastern Brazil.

Last week, Brazil’s conservation agency, ICMBio, said all 11 surviving Spix’s macaws that had been released to the wild tested positive for the incurable circovirus, which is considered deadly.

A further 20 in captivity were also infected, the government agency said.

ICMBio has fined the breeding centre 1.8 million reals ($587,000) for failing to implement biosafety protocols to curb the spread of the virus.

In a statement, police said they had seized cellphones and computers from the Spix’s Macaw Breeding Centre as part of “Operation Blue Hope”.

They added that the probe could lead to charges of spreading a disease capable of harming wildlife and obstructing environmental inspections.

The centre had resisted efforts to recapture the wild Spix’s macaws, which a court ordered them to do in October.

Virus testing ‘not simple’

In statements sent to AFP, the breeding centre said only five of 103 macaws under its care had tested positive for circovirus, which causes beak and feather disease in parrot species.

The centre argues that tropical parrots such as the Spix’s macaw are more resistant to circovirus than those on other continents, and does not believe it is a death sentence.

It denied accusations of unsanitary conditions and said it was “completely calm” over the police investigation.

ICMBio said it had used the most rigorous tests available but conceded the interpretation of results was “not simple”.

The film Rio is about a Spix’s macaw that is raised in captivity in the United States and returns to Brazil to try to save its species.

Real-life conservation efforts have been worthy of a high-stakes drama, marked by institutional conflict, concerns over unscrupulous breeders and sales to private collectors.

The breeding centre is a partner of the German Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP), which holds 75% of the world’s registered Spix’s macaws, according to ICMBio.

Brazil terminated its partnership with ACTP in 2024 after the German organisation sold 26 of the birds to a private zoo in India without its consent.

Brazil has repeatedly raised concerns at meetings of global wildlife trade regulator Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), over loopholes that allow for the sale of captive-bred Spix’s macaws and fuel demand for the fragile species.

– Agence France-Presse