Operation Blue Hope: Brazil Probes Circovirus Outbreak Among Near‑Extinct Spix's Macaws

Brazilian police have opened an investigation, dubbed "Operation Blue Hope," after an outbreak of circovirus was detected among some of the world’s last Spix's macaws — the rare blue parrots made famous by the film "Rio." Conservation authorities say the outbreak threatens one of the most valuable and fragile bird populations on the planet.

The Spix's macaw was last observed in the wild 25 years ago. In 2020, a group of captive‑bred birds was flown from Germany to Brazil as part of a reintroduction program in the species' native range in the country's northeast.

Brazil's federal conservation agency, ICMBio, reported that all 11 Spix's macaws released to the wild have tested positive for circovirus. It later announced that another 20 birds in captivity had also returned positive test results. The agency has cautioned that interpreting test results can be complex: a positive result is not always a definitive death sentence, but a negative result does not guarantee the bird is free of infection.

Circovirus causes beak and feather disease in parrots and can be lethal to affected birds, though it is not known to pose a risk to human health. ICMBio emphasized the species' high conservation value and the need to identify how the virus spread.

The Spix's Macaw Breeding Center was fined 1.8 million reais (about $336,000) for allegedly failing to implement adequate biosafety protocols to prevent the spread of disease. In response to the outbreak, police said they seized mobile phones and computers from the breeding center as part of the investigation. Authorities warned those under investigation could face charges including spreading a disease harmful to wildlife, causing wildlife deaths, and obstructing environmental inspections.

The breeding center denies negligence. It says that only five of the 103 macaws under its care tested positive and that tropical parrots such as the Spix's macaw can show resilience to circovirus. The center also said it is cooperating with authorities and is "completely calm" about the probe. The center previously resisted efforts to recapture wild birds after a court ordered recapture in October.

ICMBio: "No positive Spix's macaw is necessarily doomed, but it is also not certain that, after a negative result, they are cured."

Claudia Sacramento, who is coordinating ICMBio's outbreak response, stressed the urgency: "We are talking about a Brazilian bird of high conservation value. Those responsible for the contamination must be held accountable."

The breeding center had been a partner of the German Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP), which ICMBio says holds a large share of the world's registered Spix's macaws. Brazil ended its partnership with the ACTP in 2024 after the German group sold 26 of the birds to a private zoo in India without Brazil's consent — a dispute that further complicated collaborative conservation efforts.

Officials say the immediate priorities are diagnosing the full extent of infection, protecting any uninfected birds, tracing the source of the outbreak and ensuring strict biosecurity to prevent further spread as reintroduction efforts continue.