ALMATY, May 16 (Reuters) - Dozens of parrots seized from a smuggler by Kazakh police died of hunger and thirst before they could be handed over to a zoo, Kazakh media said on Wednesday.

Police in the Central Asian state arrested a man smuggling 150 parrots on May 7, the Kazakhstan Today news agency reported. It was nearly a week later when the birds were given to the zoo in the southern city of Shymkent, by which time 85 had died.

"The whole time the parrots were kept in small boxes with practically no food or water," the agency quoted an unnamed zoo employee as saying.

Southern Kazakhstan lies on a smuggling route for rare birds being taken to Russia and Europe. Animals confiscated when smugglers are arrested are either set free or given to a zoo.

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