A two-month old tiger cub was found drugged and concealed among stuffed-tiger toys in a woman’s luggage at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Sunday, reports TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
The 31-year old Thai woman was scheduled to board a Mahan Air flight destined for Iran when she had difficulty checking in her oversized bag. An x-ray scan revealed something resembling a real cat.
Officers from the Livestock Development Department and the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department then inspected the bag and found the tranquilized cub, which is now under the care of the Rescue Center of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Investigators are now working to determine whether the tiger “was wild caught or captive-bred, where it came from and the suspect’s intended final destination,” according to TRAFFIC.
 The live, drugged tiger cub discovered earlier this week in check-in luggage at Bangkok airport. Photo courtesy of TRAFFIC |
Tigers are listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) prohibiting international commercial trade. Both captive and wild caught tigers fall under the same regulations.
Tigers are listed as Endangered species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Tiger populations in Thailand are critically threatened by poaching and trade to meet the international demand for tiger parts, products and, live tigers.
“We applaud all the agencies that came together to uncover this brazen smuggling attempt,” said Chris R. Shepherd, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia’s Deputy Regional Director.
“TRAFFIC is glad to see these training programs pay off in seizures, arrests and continued vigilance at the airport especially by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.”
This post is based on a press release from TRAFFIC.
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