Vitricio: the parrot that was seized and his family demands that they return it

In social networks, a moving story is told that, little by little, draws the attention of Colombians, especially the inhabitants of Montería, Córdoba. Vitricio is a parrot who lived 50 years accompanying a Cordovan family; Its owner, Minerva Rosa Castellano Charrasquiel, 102, kept it because it was a gift from her late husband. But, now, the animal is in the hands of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Valles del Sinú and San Jorge, CAV CVS.

It all happened on November 2, when Vitricio, who, due to his advanced age, is already blind, began to have discomfort in his wings. Then, Eliana Guerrero del Toro, 20, Minerva’s granddaughter and Vitricio’s heir, He decided to take him out of the house, located in the El Guamo village, in the municipality of Cotorra, and take him to Montería, to be examined by a veterinarian.

“On November 2, the day Vitricio was taken from me, I arrived at the Montería Transport Terminal, but I was immediately approached by the Environmental Police and He told me that they were going to take away the parrot because that was species trafficking; I explained to them that this parrot had been with the family for 50 years, but they ignored me, “Eliana told El Heraldo.

Since then, Vitricio was handed over to CVS, and remains in the entity’s rehabilitation center. Law 1333 of 2009 establishes the environmental sanctioning procedure for people who have wild animals as pets.

“If a legal action is taken against a person who owns a wildlife animal and it is declared a crime of illegal wildlife exploitation, the law indicates that that person can go between 48 and 108 months in prison”, Álvaro Sarmiento, a lawyer at the Legal Office of the Law School of the Universidad del Rosario, assured the newspaper La República.

“We are aware that it is not allowed to have wild animals, But in this case, the bird was with us long before the possession of these animals was regulated in Colombia, so we ask that they allow us to have it returned to the house”Minerva’s granddaughter assured El Heraldo. He added that “even though we had it in our power, he’s never been caged, he has always been free in our patio, he likes to sing and swing in the hammock ”.

The news was released on social networks before the moving scene of Doña Minerva Castellano, who calls Vitricio to feed him. It seems that the parrot, a specimen of the wild species Amazona ochrocephala, was used to being free in the grandmother’s house and came to her call.

Minerva calls Vitricio and it seems strange to her that he does not appear, she asks for him every day, because her relatives have not wanted to tell her what happened to the animal for fear that she would get sick. “The parrot is very fond of me, and he does not eat if we are not together, so I fear that he may die, we have not wanted to tell my grandmother, because he can get sick,” Eliana said to the middle of Barranquilla.

Regarding Vitricio’s state of health, the CVS reported that he is well, but has “an almost total opacity of the right eyeball and a small involvement in the left.” However, on the request to return it to its owner they assured that it is not possible.

“The bird was received as part of a police procedure and there is a public record of that action, so to reverse it, it would be through a judicial ruling by means of a Judge of the Republic, because this species is on the way to extinction “, the coordinator of the CAV CVS, Alberto Muñoz Rojas, pointed out to the media.

Taking into account this legal situation, if the Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Valles del Sinú and San Jorge returned to Vitricio with its owner, they could fall into an action of prevaricate, which is why at the insistence of the citizens They assured that only at the order of a judge would they return to Vitricio.

However, the legal complaint will continue, because in the face of the moving video of a 102-year-old woman looking for her faithful companion, a memory of her husband who died more than a decade ago and gave it to her as proof of his love in 1970, 50 lawyers have decided to join forces so that the Vitricio parrot returns home.

These are the members of the Risaralda Bar Association, who are studying the case in depth, to achieve a happy ending for Minerva and Vitricio. “We are going to focus on the fact that the family can have the animal and the call is not to disrespect the rules., nor to discredit the entity as such, the institutions are respectful and are acting within the legal framework ”, the lawyer Francisco España assured the media.

Spain also assured that One of the main reasons a judge could order Vitricio to return to his owner is that the animal is used to her. He pointed out that, on many occasions, wild animals that are confiscated cannot be returned to their habitat because they do not have the capacities to survive in it, as in the case of this parrot that is blind.

Faced with the support of the lawyers, several users of the social network Twitter begin to tell the sad story of the separation of Vitricio and Minerva, hoping that they will finally meet again.

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