Parrot Smuggling Foiled

January 27, 2008 9:50 a.m. EST

Minsk, Belarus (AHN) - More than three hundred parrots were rescued after Belarus border patrol intercepted a man who tried to smuggle the exotic birds out of the country onboard his bike.

Border guards claim they intercepted the man just outside the border of Ukraine. However, the still unidentified would-be-smuggler jumped out of his bike and fled to a nearby forest when the border guards tried stopping him.

The birds were stacked inside six boxes strapped to the back of the bike, according to border patrol.

The guards added that two of the birds were already dead when they found them although the rest were healthy.

The parrots were turned over to a local animal sanctuary.