Detectives from the Investigative Police (PDI) arrested a 50-year-old man on Sunday while he was capturing protected wild birds in a flowering area of the Flowering Desert in the Atacama Region. He had seven caged birds.
According to La Tercera, the arrest was made by the PDI's Environmental and Cultural Heritage Crimes Investigation Brigade (Bidema) in Copiapó. That Sunday morning, the brigade received a report of a person setting bird traps on Route C-390. According to BioBioChile, the location is near kilometer 1 of that road.
Upon arrival, detectives found the man with four trap cages and other conventional cages. "Seven birds were seized, six of them mourning sierra finches and one a gray-hooded sierra finch," said the head of Bidema Copiapó, Commissioner Cristian Contreras.
The PDI reported that the detainee is Chilean and lives in Calera. Police arrested him in the act, meaning while he was committing the offense, and also seized the equipment he used to capture the birds.
At the direction of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the PDI handed the birds over to the Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG). The agency coordinated their release in the same area where they had been captured.
On Monday, the Atacama Prosecutor's Office formally charged the man before the Copiapó Guarantee Court with an offense under Law No. 19,473 on Hunting. Formal charging is the act in which prosecutors inform a person that they are investigating them for an offense. It does not constitute a conviction. The sources do not report the RIT (Internal Court Case Number) or the RUC (Unique Case Number).
At the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the court imposed a ban on leaving the country for the duration of the investigation. This precautionary measure prohibits him from traveling abroad. The defendant remains free and retains the presumption of innocence.
According to Commissioner Contreras, the operation was part of the police services coordinated by the authorities to protect the Flowering Desert, which has drawn more visitors to the region.
Atacama's Regional Secretary of Agriculture, Guillermo Procuriza, described the incident as "something extremely serious." He also called on the community to look after the area and report acts of this kind.
Atacama's Regional Presidential Delegate, Sofía Cid, said that "there are people who buy these birds" and called for an investigation. The sources do not indicate that the Prosecutor's Office is investigating a possible trafficking network. Nor do they specify what sentence the defendant could face.
The case is now at the investigation stage. The Atacama Prosecutor's Office will have to decide whether to indict the defendant or propose another resolution to the case.
