Thread: What a Disgrace!

Baby bears, panthers and monkeys: The extraordinary menagerie smuggled in first class passenger's suitcases

Undercover anti-trafficking officers had been monitoring the suspect since he allegedly bought the rare and endangered baby animals on the black market, according to the FREELAND Foundation, an anti-trafficking group based in Thailand.

When authorities opened the suitcases they found two leopards, two panthers, and Asiatic black bear and two macaque monkeys - all about the size of puppies.

Steven Galster, director of FREELAND, who was present when the man was intercepted said that the animals yawned when the bags were opened.

Thailand is a hub for illegal wildlife trafficking, but authorities typically find rare turtles, tortoises, snakes and lizards that feed demand in China and Vietnam. Finding such an array of live mammals is unusual.

In Thailand, leopards and panthers fetch roughly $5,000 a piece on the black market, but their value in Dubai was presumably higher, Mr Galster said.

It was not known if the animals were destined to be resold or kept as exotic pets, a practice popular in the Middle East.

'It looked like they had sedated the animals and had them in flat cages so they couldn't move around much,' Mr Galster said. Some of the animals had been packed inside canisters punched with air holes.

Authorities believe the man was part of a trafficking network and were searching for suspected accomplices.

Mr Galster said: 'It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation. We've never seen one like this before.

'The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases.'
Thailand is a hub for illegal wildlife trafficking, but authorities typically find rare turtles, tortoises, snakes and lizards that feed demand in China and Vietnam. Finding such an array of live mammals is unusual.

In Thailand, leopards and panthers fetch roughly $5,000 a piece on the black market, but their value in Dubai was presumably higher, Mr Galster said.

It was not known if the animals were destined to be resold or kept as exotic pets, a practice popular in the Middle East.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...d-luggage.html


These people should have the book thrown at them for life!

This is terrible, any idea what sentance he received? Those poor poor babies :cry:

Not a violent guy me, but what I could do to these cretins!
A long spell in His Majesty's lock up is what is required as a good warning to others!

We have had similar happenings here in Oz, luckily we run a fairly stringent system, again throw away the keys

unfortunatly when there is a market there will always be those willing to supply, just last year there was a similar incident....
Malaysian wildlife trafficker Anson Wong received a five-year jail sentence after his bag filled with 95 live boa constrictors suddenly burst open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur airport in August 2010. The spectacular incident was unlucky for Wong, one of the biggest traders in the region, but the bust might have been expected.
Authorities in the South-East Asian region have increasingly been on the lookout for high-profile wildlife smugglers. Wong's sentence reflects a growing regional awareness that wildlife crime is a major problem, suggests Elizabeth John, a spokeswoman at the South-East Asian office of wildlife trade monitoring agency TRAFFIC. However, clamping down on animal smuggling remains an ongoing battle.
Wildlife trafficking is big business........hopefully vigilant searches at airports will help to reduce this cruel practice.....

Originally Posted by Ktee

This is terrible, any idea what sentance he received? Those poor poor babies :cry:

No idea Ktee, but I hope he enjoys his own cage of confinement!

Originally Posted by mizelli

unfortunatly when there is a market there will always be those willing to supply, just last year there was a similar incident....
Malaysian wildlife trafficker Anson Wong received a five-year jail sentence after his bag filled with 95 live boa constrictors suddenly burst open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur airport in August 2010. The spectacular incident was unlucky for Wong, one of the biggest traders in the region, but the bust might have been expected.
Authorities in the South-East Asian region have increasingly been on the lookout for high-profile wildlife smugglers. Wong's sentence reflects a growing regional awareness that wildlife crime is a major problem, suggests Elizabeth John, a spokeswoman at the South-East Asian office of wildlife trade monitoring agency TRAFFIC. However, clamping down on animal smuggling remains an ongoing battle.
Wildlife trafficking is big business........hopefully vigilant searches at airports will help to reduce this cruel practice.....

Lets hope so mate, stories like this make my blood boil, you can only wish evil on these people, they are a bad lot!

I guess people will always find new ways to smuggle animals ...how about this one...Iguana leg Jerome James was arrested in L.A. in September of last year for smuggling three endangered banded iguanas from Fiji. While that may seem like a routine bust at first, his hiding place was much more unique. Mr. James uses a prosthetic leg, which he had hollowed out and stuffed with the three iguanas before wearing it back to the US.

This sort of thing is huge business around the world, as I am in the animal 'business' here in Australia I can tell you that literally any animal you want is available here if you know the right people. A certain species of snake was being bought in through Sydney which involved a corrupt Customs official so every shipment was literally just getting rubber stamped on arrival. It's a very difficult thing to police as there are just so many ways for animals to enter a country.

That maybe, and I hope in Oz they have tighter controls than most. Luckily they have brought in the dogs out now to sniff in/out going luggage for reptiles/animals etc.

Another idea from Kevin Fox, head of economics at the Australian School of Business,says that establishing a legal trade could put smugglers out of business, increase the animal population and save species from extinction. But the issues are tremendously complex, he says. A further consideration is if endangered species or products become too popular and are priced too highly, then people may try to source them more cheaply through an illegal market. The prices would need to fall to a very low level to put poachers out of business, a dratic measure but an idea at least to stop this dispicable practice.