Brazilian police said Wednesday they were 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."

The conservation of the Spix's macaw has been the subject of a fierce battle between private breeders and the government.

The Spix's macaw was last seen in the wild 25 years ago.

In 2020, a group of captive-bred birds was brought from Germany for a program to reintroduce them to their natural habitat in northeast Brazil.

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

On Tuesday, it reported another 20 in captivity ha

See Full Page