Tony Silva

This article is about the American ornithologist. For the football (soccer) player, see Toni Silva.

Tony Silva also known as Antonio H. Silva (born 1960 in Cuba) is an American ornithologist and aviculturist, and the author of books and articles about parrots. From April 1989 until early 1992, he was curator of birds at Loro Parque, Tenerife, Canary Islands, the largest parrot park in the world. He was involved in the early efforts to save the Spix's macaw.

Smuggling

In Jan. 1992, in the culmination of "Operation Renegade," an international probe into bird smuggling conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Law Enforcement from 1989–92, federal agents raided Silva's Chicago home, seizing a collection of rare and endangered birds held there in a basement aviary. In December, 1994, he and others were arrested and indicted for conspiracy to violate wildlife and customs laws, and tax evasion (see case No. 94-CR-760). In 1996, Silva pled guilty, was convicted and sentenced to 82 months in prison, fined $100,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service during a three-year probationary term after his prison sentence. The smuggling between 1985 and 1992 involved numerous threatened species of South American and Southeast Asian parrots, including hyacinth macaws and other macaws, vinaceous amazons and other amazons, conures, lorikeets and other parrots, cockatoos and flamingos.

Selected publications

This is an incomplete list of works by Tony Silva.

Books

• Silva, T., & B. Kotlar (1980). Discus. Tetra Press. ISBN 9780866227698
• Silva, T., Naether, C. & Kotlar, B. (1980) Building An Aviary TFH Publications. ISBN 0866226990
• Silva, T., & B. Kotlar (1981). Breeding Lovebirds. TFH Publications. ISBN 0-87666-831-7
• Silva, T., & B. Kotlar (1989). Conures. TFH Publications. ISBN 0-86622-739-3
• Silva, T. (1989). A Monograph of Endangered Parrots. Silvio Mattacchione. ISBN 0-9692640-4-6
• Silva, T. (1991). Psittaculture: The Breeding, Rearing and Management of Parrots. Silvio Mattacchione. ISBN 0-9504165-2-5
• Silva, T. (1993). A Monograph Of Macaws and Conures. Silvio Mattacchione. ISBN 1-895270-01-4

Articles

• Silva, T., (1986). American Federation of Aviculture (Convention). Magazine of the Parrot Society. 20: 312-315, 1986
• Silva, T., (1989). Vasa Parrots, American Cage Bird Magazine, October, 1989.
• Silva, T., (1991). The Hyacinth Macaw: Its Status and Captive Breeding, American Cage Bird Magazine 1991
• Silva, T., (1994). Breeding the Spix’s Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) at Loro Parque, Tenerife, International Zoo Yearbook 1994
• Silva, T. & Jordan, R. (2007). Breeding and rearing Salvadori's fig parrot: Psittaculirostris salvadorii at Loro Parque, Tenerife, International Zoo Yearbook 01/2007; 30(1):173-177.