Baby bear, leopards found in bags at airport

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The practice of international animal trading is increasing as the demand for exotics in locations such as Dubai and other wealthy Arab republics rises. Here is the latest on an arrest in Thailand:

Authorities at Thailand’s international airport arrested a first-class passenger Friday whose suitcases were filled with baby leopards, panthers, a bear and monkeys. The animals had been drugged and were headed for Dubai.

 

The man, a 36-year-old United Arab Emirates citizen, was waiting to check-in for his flight at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport when he was apprehended by undercover anti-trafficking officers, who had been monitoring him since his black market purchase of the rare and endangered animals, according to the FREELAND Foundation, an anti-trafficking group based in Thailand.

When authorities opened the suitcases, the animals yawned, said Steven Galster, director of FREELAND, who was present during the bust. There were two leopards, two panthers, an Asiatic black bear and two macaque monkeys — all about the size of puppies.

“It looked like they had sedated the animals and had them in flat cages so they couldn’t move around much,” Galster said. Some of the animals were placed inside canisters with air holes.

Image: Leopard cub

AP

In this photo released by the FREEDLAND Fundation, a leopard cub looks out from a cage after being confiscated Friday by Thai authorities at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Authorities arrested a first-class passenger headed for Dubai.

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

“It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation. We’ve never seen one like this before,” Galster said. “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.

“We haven’t seen this mixture (of animals) before,” Galster said. “It’s amazing. We were really surprised.”

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

Tip of the hat to Darlene D.

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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12 years ago

I NEVER use abbreviations so instead of OMG! I’ll say Oh My God!!! (not that I have a God of course)…

How can anyone subscribing to be a part of humanity do this????

Oh….yeah…humanity…er…

BASTARDS.

Any chance your SEALS could start going elsewhere and topping a few more undesirables?…Just a thought…we wouldn’t mind a bit….I wouldn’t anyroad.

Peter Lake
12 years ago

This is an outrage and must be stopped. I can only wonder how many thousands of baby animals escape detection at the world’s airports and transportation terminals.

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