14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, police officers in Thailand discovered a total of 54 ploughshare tortoises inside the luggage of a 38-year-old man.
Given the fact that only 400 such tortoises are now left to inhabit Madagascar (i.e. their native region), it is safe to say that this man tried to smuggle a whopping 13% of this species' entire population.
21 radiated tortoises were also found inside this man's bag, Mongabay reports.
Both species are currently listed as critically endangered ones, which is why it need not come as a surprise that both the man and a woman who is believed to have helped him got arrested.
“The Thai authorities have placed the animals in a government rescue centre—the Bang Pra Breeding Center in Chonburi. It is hoped they will be repatriated back to Madagascar as soon as possible,” explained Chris Shepherd, a member of TRAFFIC.