Perhaps it was because I have written about the "Plight of the Pangolins" that I noticed this startling headline, which is startling even in our age of startling headlines: "More Than 100 Animals Found in Luggage at Thai Airport: 2 Women Arrested," Andrew Jeong, Washington Post, June 29, 2022. The nerves of these ladies are undoubtedly much stronger than those of people like me who break into a sweat when we think we might have mistakenly packed some liquid toiletries.
The animals were, at least, not large ones. Lots of lizards were found, along with 35 turtles and a Peter's Banded Skink. There were also two porcupines. Chennai (Madras for us oldsters) was the destination and it appears that it is not unusual to find animals among the passengers in Indian airports since over 70,000 were seized between 2011 and 2020. The smugglers face up to 10 years in prison and large fines.
The Bonus:
It is through such trading that the Burmese python made its way to Florida where there are now many of them. Last week, the largest one ever found there was captured. She was 18 feet long and weighed 215 pounds. "Conservancy of SWFL Documents Largest Burmese Python in Florida," Naples Florida Weekly, June 30, 2022.
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