Dr. TanDY
Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 1345
Location: Selangor, Malaysia
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:39 pm Post subject: Endangered box turtles die after being smuggled in crates |
|
|
Nature News
Singapore - Only 70 South Asian box turtles out of an illegal shipment of 2,500 of the endangered reptiles were still alive Wednesday without any sign of when they will be returned to Indonesia, Singapore wildlife officials said.
Bobby Lee, a senior wildlife enforcement officer with the Agri- Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), and his colleagues have been feeding the turtles cabbage and hosing them with water in a desperate bid to keep them alive.
It was not known how long the turtles had been stacked onto one another in 72 crates when they arrived in Singapore from Sumatra.
Seized by authorities on June 13, the reptiles can be traded only with a permit issued by the country of origin. The turtles were brought in with 2,900 non-protected turtles for which shippers had valid documents.
It was believed that the shipment was headed for cooking pots in Hong Kong.
Many of the turtles were already dead, and the survivors were showing signs of stress when they were seized, Lee told The Straits Times.
The turtles could not be sent back immediately because the ship's captain had been arrested for smuggling. The AVA 'did the best we could under the circumstances,' Lee was quoted as saying.
The captain has been jailed for five months and fined 20,000 Singapore dollars (12,820 US dollars). |
|
