Snakes on a plane highlight Thailand-India trafficking, NGO warns
Venomous vipers found on Thailand-India flight last week illustrates ‘troubling’ trend driven by exotic pet trade, anti-smuggling group says
Venomous vipers found in checked bags on a flight from Thailand to India illustrate a “very troubling” trend in wildlife trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade, an NGO warned on Tuesday.
Among them were several spider-tailed horned vipers, a venomous species only described by scientists in 2006 and classed as “near-threatened” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The reptiles are among more than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, that have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the past three-and-a-half years, said Traffic, a UK-based group that battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants.
“The almost-weekly discoveries and diversity of wildlife en route to India is very troubling,” said Traffic’s Southeast Asia director Kanitha Krishnasamy.
Many of those captured were alive, which “shows that the clamour for exotic pets is driving the trade”, she said.