More animal smuggling

[Starry night]

Can you believe this Idiot. Now you see why we get so many sick star tortoises.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41512490/ns/world_news-world_environment/

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

That is so sad!! I am just wondering what he needed 22 squirrel's for??

 

[tortoises101]

What a *** ** * *****! How could someone even do that? And all of the smuggled turtles/tortoises are endagered/critically endangered species! What the heck was this guy thinking? Someone please just stuff this *censored* in a suitcase.

 

[Benjamin]

Smuggled chelonians happen all of the time.
In 2003 the Memphis Zoo got a call from fish&wildlife about unidentified "sea turtles" shipped from Singapore, stopped at the FedEx hub.
We headed to campus where the shipment had been taken. 198 hatchling flyriver turtles, 25 indian stars, and 10 roughneck monitors. The lizards are what showed up on the xray leading to the discovery of the animals. The monitors and 1 FRT died.
Some of the FRT were simply wrapped together in foil. Others crammed into small boxes inside the shipping box.
Triage took all day. The only warm water we had was brewed though a coffee maker, then mixed with cold tap. This happend in February, no heatpacks of course. The day was spent seperating the turtles into groups based on knowing they were alive, or just thinking they were.
After many hours we repacked the turtles(much better hoping nobody would notice), then they were delivered to PA were the recipiant was arrested.
Most every FRT seen offered for sale, entered this country in a similar fashion. My star tortoises and many others are with me as the result of smuggling attempts. Pancake tortoises are currently being smuggled in large numbers. Look at how many cb adults there are for sale now. They produce only a small number of ova a year.
Buyer beware ,illegal chelonians don't look any different than legal.

 

[B K]

Smuggled chelonians happen all of the time.
In 2003 the Memphis Zoo got a call from fish&wildlife about unidentified "sea turtles" shipped from Singapore, stopped at the FedEx hub.
We headed to campus where the shipment had been taken. 198 hatchling flyriver turtles, 25 indian stars, and 10 roughneck monitors. The lizards are what showed up on the xray leading to the discovery of the animals. The monitors and 1 FRT died.
Some of the FRT were simply wrapped together in foil. Others crammed into small boxes inside the shipping box.
Triage took all day. The only warm water we had was brewed though a coffee maker, then mixed with cold tap. This happend in February, no heatpacks of course. The day was spent seperating the turtles into groups based on knowing they were alive, or just thinking they were.
After many hours we repacked the turtles(much better hoping nobody would notice), then they were delivered to PA were the recipiant was arrested.
Most every FRT seen offered for sale, entered this country in a similar fashion. My star tortoises and many others are with me as the result of smuggling attempts. Pancake tortoises are currently being smuggled in large numbers. Look at how many cb adults there are for sale now. They produce only a small number of ova a year.
Buyer beware ,illegal chelonians don't look any different than legal.

Good point on the pancakes.

 

[dmmj]

so this is a question I have if one was to buy an animal through a classified is there a way or questions to ask to determine if they are legal or illegal?

 

[Benjamin]

so this is a question I have if one was to buy an animal through a classified is there a way or questions to ask to determine if they are legal or illegal?

Similar to when one buys a car, you do some research. If you are buying a WC import, ask for a copy of the CITES 3177 form. This will bother some dealers, some it won't because this form shows legal importation.
It is not difficult to determine if a chelonian is CB or WC. I would be very skeptical of a seller advertising an obviouse WC as CB. Most breeders should be able to provide pertanent information about their cb animals. Who is breeding all the FRT? How many adds have the species names mispelled?
If it looks to good to be true , it probably is. Pancake tortoises have not been legally imported since the early 1990s. Odd how many CB adults are sold for the same price as babies someplaces. There are many people breeding them, but they don't raise them for 5yrs then sell for the same price as hatchlings normally.
Be aware of the laws, ignorance of the law does not make it ok.
Get receipts, save them.

 

[Laura]

Makes me wonder how many dont get detected and how many survive..

 

[welly]

i know the man on that news, he have a reptile pet store in my town... :-O

 

[cork_screw]

Corn snakes? Ball pythons? This guy is an idiot. What a waste of time and space. The aldabras I can see, and the star torts are about 400-500 USD, but you're willing to go to jail for a few snakes that you can get a dime a dozen for? Ball pythons are around the 30-50 USD range and even with that you would need to push some sales to really find any interest. I guess same goes with the beardies.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Sad!!

 

[african cake queen]

lets put that guy in his suitcase with a few rattle snakes! what a low life! lindy

---

you know ,before i knew better i didnt think about the poor animals being high jacked from their homes and put thur the worst kinda hell.i didnt know about wild caught or captive born. i really feel like BAD about haveing wild caught. thats what my vet told me. that they werent cb.i spoil them rotten and tell people about reptiles being used and abused. so i thank everyone here for all the infor. you give me and you honest anwsers, even if its not what you want to hear. it really helps. so, buy cb, and thanks again for posting this and for everyones help. lindy

 

[SnakeyeZ]

That's disturbing. It'll never either unfortunately.