ID :
145682
Mon, 10/11/2010 - 18:43
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/145682
The shortlink copeid
200 endangered Madagascar tortoises seized at Suvarnabhumi Airport
BANGKOK, Oct 11 – Thai customs officials on Sunday seized 218 radiated tortoises smuggled into Thailand by a Malagasy man to sell to a trader at Bangkok’s biggest weekend market, at Chatuchak Park.
Four radiated tortoises were dead while 214 others are still alive. Worth an estimated Bt1.2 million altogether (about US$40,000), the Madagascar tortoises were hidden in two pieces of luggage on a Kenya Airways plane from Nairobi.
Sunun Arunnopparat, Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Prasong Puntanet, Director-General of the Customs Department told a news conference on Monday that Basoiry Djamaldine, a Malagasy national, was taken into custody at Suvarnabhumi Airport by Thai customs officials after being tipped-off by a worldwide wildlife watch organisation.
Radiated tortoises (Geochelone radiata) are a native Madagascar tortoise near extinction with about 1,000 breeding stock left in the wild.
All of the tortoises were weak and dehydrated due to the long trip. They were administered saline drops and food.
The police are investigating to find what traders at Chatuchak Market ordered the endangered species wildlife.
Radiated tortoises are classified as critically at risk under the UN's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
The confiscation of the radiated tortoises on the weekend is the second case of seizing endangered species by the customs department in the past two months.
On September 28, customs authorities seized 1,140 endangered star tortoises being smuggled from Bangladesh at Suvarnabhumi Airport. (MCOT online news)
Four radiated tortoises were dead while 214 others are still alive. Worth an estimated Bt1.2 million altogether (about US$40,000), the Madagascar tortoises were hidden in two pieces of luggage on a Kenya Airways plane from Nairobi.
Sunun Arunnopparat, Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Prasong Puntanet, Director-General of the Customs Department told a news conference on Monday that Basoiry Djamaldine, a Malagasy national, was taken into custody at Suvarnabhumi Airport by Thai customs officials after being tipped-off by a worldwide wildlife watch organisation.
Radiated tortoises (Geochelone radiata) are a native Madagascar tortoise near extinction with about 1,000 breeding stock left in the wild.
All of the tortoises were weak and dehydrated due to the long trip. They were administered saline drops and food.
The police are investigating to find what traders at Chatuchak Market ordered the endangered species wildlife.
Radiated tortoises are classified as critically at risk under the UN's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
The confiscation of the radiated tortoises on the weekend is the second case of seizing endangered species by the customs department in the past two months.
On September 28, customs authorities seized 1,140 endangered star tortoises being smuggled from Bangladesh at Suvarnabhumi Airport. (MCOT online news)
