Two men were granted $16,000 bail with surety after they were allegedly found with several protected animals at a house in Mayaro in August.
Newsday understands Imran Ali and Marvin Belgrove appeared virtually before magistrate Vandenburg Bailey in the Mayaro district court on Monday to answer 13 charges of keeping bullfinch birds and another 13 charges of keeping the birds in a cage less than one cubic metre in volume.
The men were also jointly charged for the possession of a spotted-leg tortoise (morocoy), which is also a protected animal.
Ali and Belgrove pleaded not guilty.
Their attorney Jeevan Rampersad asked the magistrate to show leniency, noting his clients' financial difficulties, and said both men had been charged previously for marijuana possession and not similar offences.
They were granted bail with surety and are scheduled to reappear in court on October 4.
Police arrested the men on August 21 at a house in Stone Bridge Village, Mayaro, where they were found with the 13 bullfinches and the tortoise.
Police took the animals to the Emperor Valley Zoo.
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