India, March 26 -- Between March 6 and March 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 39 hatching eggs in Louisville, Kentucky. According to a press release from the agency, the eggs were confiscated across three separate shipments. The first two shipments, heading to New York and Nevada, came from Turkey, while the third shipment was en route to Costa Rica from Romania.

These eggs contained live chicks of game birds, racing pigeons, or other birds with a market demand. As live animals, hatching eggs are highly regulated at U.S. borders. Typically, these eggs are incubated, hatched, and raised. Smuggled eggs pose a significant risk, as they can carry the rapidly spreading avian influenza or bird flu.

"Hatching eggs are all av...