Guidelines from the Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia for birds taken from poaching and captivity. Brazil has one of the greatest bird diversities in the world, and is one of the most important places for bird conservation. However, Brazilian birds suffer from a tremendous pressure due to illegal trade in wildlife. The Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia is very concerned with the lack of technical guidelines, herein contributes to the standardization of protocol for handling animals taken from illegal trade, by the establishment of the Wild Bird Traffic Working Group. One of the greatest problems of birds coming from poaching and captivity is where to place them after recovery, due the lack space in zoos and others institutions. Additionally, it is very expensive to maintain a large number of birds in captivity. We believe that the placement of birds recovered from illegal traffic or captivity must have an explicit conservation goal, with attention focused on populations and communities rather than individuals. We suggest that recovered animals be classified into the following categories: 1) birds important for conservation, 2) already many in captivity, 3) less common, but captive interests, and 4) debilitated animals. We present a classification tree for decision-making with steps and justification for each choice. The goal of these suggestions is to contribute to political decision-making with respect to the conservation of Brazilian biodiversity. These guidelines reflect the opinion of the majority of Brazilian ornithologists who are affiliated with the Sociedade Brasileira de Ornitologia.