ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! REALLY?! This is just ridiculous...someone should put her in a bag...
(Article Courtesy of National Geographic)
Live Tiger Cub Found in Luggage
"The cat's out of the bag—at least for a woman caught smuggling a live, two-month-old, drugged tiger cub in a suitcase full of toys (pictured) at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Thai national, whose identity has not been revealed by Thai authorities, was scheduled to board a Mahan Air flight to Iran. But when she was seen struggling with a large bag at check-in, airport officials decided to x-ray her luggage.
The x-rays revealed the tranquilized tiger cub among stuffed-tiger toys, according to a statement released Thursday by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network. (Related video: "Tiger Trade Slashes Big Cats' Numbers.")
Officials are investigating whether the cub was wild caught or captive-bred, as well as where the woman intended to bring the tiger.
All Asian tigers are listed as endangered or worse by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), mostly due to the illegal trade in tiger parts. (Read about how to save tigers with National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative.)"
All Asian tigers are listed as endangered or worse by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), mostly due to the illegal trade in tiger parts. (Read about how to save tigers with National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative.)"
With wildlife trade on the rise, officials at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport who rescued the live tiger cub (pictured) had just gone through a training course on how to spot smugglers, which was sponsored by the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network, partly funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
While no one knows exactly how large the illegal wildlife trade is, it may well be the world's most profitable form of illegal trade, according to National Geographic magazine.
Few wildlife smugglers are ever caught, and penalties are usually no more severe than a parking ticket, the magazine reported.
Few wildlife smugglers are ever caught, and penalties are usually no more severe than a parking ticket, the magazine reported.
All tiger subspecies are listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement that prohibits international commercial trade in the big cats (pictured, a live tiger cub found Sunday at a Bangkok airport).
The agreement encompasses both wild-caught and captive tigers, including animals raised on so-called tiger farms. (See tiger pictures.)
Even so, some tourist attractions—such as the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Park in Guillin, China—secretly operate as fronts for illegal tiger farming, butchering captive tigers for their parts, National Geographic magazine reported earlier this year. (See pictures: "Tigers Butchered for Trade at 'Zoos' in China?")
Published August 26, 2010
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