Tony Silva

Tony Silva, also known as Antonio H. Silva (born 1960) is an American aviculturist and ornithologist, and the author of books and articles about parrots. From 1989 to 1992, he was curator of birds at Loro Parque, the largest parrot park in the world. In 1996, he was convicted of conspiring to smuggle rare parrots into the United States and of tax evasion. His parents encouraged his love of birds as a hobby to keep him out of trouble, and he began studying, collecting, and breeding birds at age nine. When he was in his teens, he became further enamoured after receiving a parakeet.

Silva began writing articles about birds at age 16, and by age 20 he had published his first book. In 1981, Silva received the Silver Avy Award from the American Federation of Aviculture (AFA) for being the first in the U.S. to successfully breed slender-billed conures in captivity. Silva was self-taught and did not attend university, but by age 25 he was already regarded as an authority on parrots and was respected as a successful breeder. In 1986, Silva became midwestern regional vice-president of the AFA. By 1987, Silva was operating a pet shop called Tropifauna just outside of Chicago. In August 1989, Silva became Curator of Birds at Loro Parque, Tenerife, Canary Islands, the largest parrot park in the world—a position he held until January 1992. Although highly respected among aviculturists, he was viewed with skepticism by the scientific community. To some, Silva was merely a popularizer of others' ideas; to others, he was a "charlatan" who promoted wildlife conservation but who was suspected of engaging in illegal wildlife trade as early as 1980. Between at least 1986 and 1991, Silva conspired to smuggle protected birds valued at more than $1.3 million into the United States, neglecting to declare this income on his taxes. Birds were transported to a Chicago-area motel room where they were surgically sexed and furnished with forged documents so they could be sold on the legal market. Some of the birds were publicly advertised for sale in American Cage-bird Magazine.

Operation Renegade

Life after prison Despite having pleaded guilty, Silva has publicly maintained his innocence, suggesting that he was importing birds to preserve the species rather than for financial gain. He has also questioned the credibility of the witnesses against him, and he has alleged impropriety by the U.S. government in pursuit of his conviction.

As of 2016, Silva was working for an energy company and was keeping birds as a hobby, as well as operating a rescue centre. The existence of the species has been questioned.

Selected publications This is an incomplete list of works by Tony Silva.

Books Silva, T. & Kotlar, B. (1980). Discus. Tetra Press. Silva, T. & Kotlar, B. (1981). Breeding Lovebirds. TFH Publications. Silva, T. & Kotlar, B. (1989). Conures. TFH Publications. Silva, T. (1989). A Monograph of Endangered Parrots. Silvio Mattacchione & Co. Silva, T. (1991). Psittaculture: The Breeding, Rearing and Management of Parrots. Silvio Mattacchione & Co. Silva, T. (1993). A Monograph Of Macaws and Conures. Silvio Mattacchione & Co.

Peer-reviewed articles Jordan, R., & Silva, T. (1991). Breeding and rearing Salvadori's fig parrot: Psittaculirostris salvadorii at Loro Parque, Tenerife, International Zoo Yearbook 30:173-177. Silva, T. (1994). Breeding the Spix's Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) at Loro Parque, Tenerife, International Zoo Yearbook 33:176-180. Silva, T., Guzmán, A., Urantówka, A.D., & Mackiewicz, P. (2017). A new parrot taxon from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico—its position within genus Amazona based on morphology and molecular phylogeny. PeerJ 5: e3475.