Friday, February 11, 2011

Suspected smuggler stuffed squirrels, tortoises into suitcases - CNN.com

Suspected smuggler stuffed squirrels, tortoises into suitcases - CNN.com:
"(CNN) -- An alleged would-be smuggler was caught at a Thailand airport with dozens of rare wildlife [...]stuffed into three suitcases, a wildlife monitoring organization says.
...
The man had purchased the wildlife at Bangkok's Chatuchak Market and was attempting to smuggle them out of the country, the organization said. He was stopped after a regular luggage scan revealed the animals.


According to the organization, the man carried 88 Indian star tortoises, 33 elongated tortoises, seven radiated tortoises, six mata mata turtles and four Southeast Asian narrow-headed softshell turtles. He also had three Aldabra tortoises, one pig-nosed turtle, and one ploughshare tortoise ...


But that wasn't all that the man stuffed into his luggage. Authorities also found 34 ball pythons, two boa constrictors, several milk snakes, corn snakes and king snakes and one hog-nosed snake ...



According to the organization, there also were 19 bearded dragon lizards, four spiny-tailed lizards, two Sudan plated lizards and six Argentine horned frogs.

And, to top it off, there were 18 baboon spiders, 22 common squirrels and one African grey parrot inside the suitcases ..."

What, no partridges in pear trees?

First off, the guy flew in. He must have noticed the big machine that his suitcases passed through. With big burly men in uniforms glaring at screens. That showed the contents of his suitcases. We call it the X-Ray Machine, Mr. frequent flier!

And really, to be able to pack more animals than most zoos possess into a mere three suitcases, that is Nobel Prize-worthy. The man is in reality, a packing genius. A moron otherwise, yes, but a packing and stacking genius. He should be making YouTube videos about "How To Pack A Suitcase". Imagine being able to fit the entire contents of a walk-in closet into one single carry-on bag for your flight, now that kind of skill would have earned him more money than a few hundred animals. And smelled a lot better too, no doubt.