Cape Town - Customs officials at Moscow Domodedovo Airport in Russia have reportedly seized more than 350 exotic animals found in the backpack of a Russian national arriving from South Africa.
Some of the animals died due to sudden changes in temperature and improper transportation, while others were confiscated and handed over to animal rights activists who are providing veterinary care, rehabilitation, and adequate treatment, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service.
Among the confiscated animals were 14 Cape dwarf chameleons, five western leopard toads, an African rodenburg’s mabuya (long-tailed lizard) and various insects including woodlice, giant millipedes, painted snails, horned fungus beetles, psammodes (found only at the Cape of Good Hope), and Florida woods cockroaches.
“The Russian passenger put the African animals in plastic containers, which he hid from customs officials in a tourist backpack," the Customs Service said in a statement.
In a previous incident at another airport in Moscow in December, a woman was found to be attempting to smuggle 150 animals from the Philippines,
"In addition, customs officers noted the similarities between this case and one involving the seizure of live cargo in December of last year at another Moscow airport.
“Then, also in the green corridor, inspectors stopped a woman trying to smuggle 150 animals from the Philippines,” they said.
It is reported that the man claimed that he had personally caught the animals in South Africa and planned to keep them at home, but the service established that he was actually seeking to sell them online.
Cape Times