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rfmcdonaldThe picture in this post is a handout picture released by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia on August 27, 2010, showing a tiger cub which was discovered hidden in the baggage of a woman at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport. I got the story from the Globe and Mail.
Poor, cute thing.
Authorities at Bangkok's international airport found a baby tiger cub that had been drugged and hidden among stuffed toy tigers in the suitcase of a woman flying from Thailand to Iran, an official and a wildlife protection group said Friday.
The woman, a Thai national, had checked in for her flight and her oversized bag was sent for an X-ray which showed what appeared to be a live animal inside, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring group.
The woman was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport before boarding her Sunday flight. The cub, estimated to be about 3 months old, was sent to a wildlife conservation centre in Bangkok.
“The cub arrived at our unit Monday,” said Chaiyaporn Chareesaeng, head of the Wildlife Health Unit at the Department of National Parks' Wildlife and Plant Conservation Center, where the animal was put under close supervision.
“He appeared exhausted, dehydrated and couldn't walk, so we had to give him oxygen, water and lactation,” said Mr. Chaiyaporn. “We have monitored him closely. As of today, he looks better and can walk a little now.”
[. . .]
She denied the luggage with the cub in belonged to her and said another passenger had asked her to carry it for them, said Adisorn Noochdumrong, head of an international wildlife division at the conservation centre.
The cub could have fetched about 100,000 baht ($3,200) on the black market in Iran, where it is popular to have exotic pets, Mr. Adisorn said. He said he did not know what the woman allegedly intended to do with this particular cub.
Poor, cute thing.
