Pete
A tourist was recently caught trying to smuggle two otters and a prairie dog through an airport in Thailand. He was hiding them in his pants.
The 22-year-old Taiwanese man was planning to board a flight from Bangkok to Taipei, but unfortunately for him, airline authorities noticed some weird stuff happening in his crotch area.
It wasn’t just the fact that his bulge was enormous; it was also wiggling around.
The man was initially taken for x-rays which made it obvious that something was wrong. Then, they gave him a strip search which revealed two Asian small-clawed otters and a prairie dog in socks taped to his boxers.
The Asian small-clawed otter is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Prairie dogs, native to US grasslands, also face risks with two of the five species listed as endangered.
The man now faces charges under Thailand’s Customs Act, Animal Epidemics Act, and Animal Conservation and Protection Act.
The animals were taken from him and handed over to the Wildlife Conservation Office.
The incident highlights Thailand’s role as a hub for illicit wildlife trafficking, with a previous incident involving a rat and an otter getting loose on a flight from Bangkok to Taiwan. Thailand’s Customs Department emphasized that the country is not a gateway for smuggling exotic animals.
