Customs Officials Find Red Panda, Snakes, and Monkeys in Baggage at Thailand Airport
Six people have been arrested after trying to smuggle a total of 87 live animals in their luggage.
An endangered red panda was among 89 live animals who have been seized in a single haul by customs officials at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand.
Six Indian nationals due to take a flight to Mumbai were arrested after airport security discovered the animals in their suitcases.
In photos posted by the Thai Customs Department on Facebook, live animals can be seen wrapped up inside tied-up bags and small plastic tubs that were found crammed into a set of large suitcases.
Reptiles, mammals, and birds were among the illegal haul, which included chameleons, monitor lizards, snakes, red-eyed squirrels, monkeys, bats, frogs, and a large-beaked parrot.
Many of the smuggled animals are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES. This includes the endangered red panda, whose population has been threatened by habitat loss and poaching.
If convicted, the wildlife smugglers face up to ten years in prison, which is the maximum sentence in Thailand for the trafficking of CITES-listed species.
The Demand for Illegal Wildlife
Thailand’s rich biodiversity along with its geographical position in the center of Southeast Asia has resulted in the country becoming a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade.
Within the trade, exotic animals are either illegally caught from the wild or bred on breeding farms. The animals are then sold to unethical zoos, harvested for their body parts for use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), or kept as pets in the exotic pet industry.
Kanitha Krishnasamy, a director of anti-wildlife trafficking group TRAFFIC, explains that the demand for exotic pets has become a “growing fad” in India at the moment. Speaking to CNN on the most recent illegal haul of animals in Thailand, Krishnasamy said that TRAFFIC has noted a “very active and persistent level of trafficking of live animals between Southeast Asia and South Asia,” which includes multiple busts taking place on smuggling routes between Thailand and India in recent years.
TRAFFIC’s data shows demand for the likes of pet kangaroos, possums, and red pandas has helped fuel trafficking numbers.
“We need to get to the bottom of the market in India,” Krishnasamy told CNN. “A robust understanding of the contemporary pet market is needed to guide future interventions, including on strengthened regulation and reducing demand.”
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