(This article contains a small number of snake pictures, please read with caution if you are not comfortable)
Animal smuggling is a scary and shady industry.
According to statistics, the wildlife trade is the second largest illegal trading market in the world, with transactions ranging from £5.2 billion to £6.6 billion, second only to drug smuggling.
Just on Tuesday, U.S. authorities said:
On Feb. 25, a truck came to the U.S.-Mexico border to be spot-checked by U.S. border agents, during which agents found 52 live reptiles, nine snakes and 43 horned lizards, some of which were endangered species.
Even more outrageous is that smugglers smuggle these reptiles by putting them all in bags and stuffing them into their own clothes.
Jacket pockets, pants pockets, and even crotches are hidden...
The smuggler has now been arrested, and what awaits him will be the punishment of the law.
But unfortunately, no matter how serious the crime of smuggling animals is, there will still be people who risk their lives for the sake of profit like him.
And in order not to be arrested, these smugglers have come up with methods that can be said to often push the limits of human beings...
In 2011, a Dutchman wrapped a flock of hummingbirds in cloth and taped them into small pockets sewn on the crotch of his pants.
But he was eventually discovered by customs because his walking posture was too abnormal (possibly pierced).
In 2011, when a Man from the United Arab Emirates boarded a plane, security officers x-rayed two tiger-shaped objects in his suitcase, which the man said were his two tiger dolls.
The security officer then opened the luggage and found that there was only one doll...
A man departing from Dubai and arriving in Melbourne was stopped by customs for his strange walking posture.
At first customs officers found two bird eggs in his luggage, and then during a search, they found that the man also had two rare pigeons strapped to his legs.
He walked in a strange posture because the two pigeons were pecking at him...
In 2005, customs officials at Stockholm Airport noticed a woman in an unusual condition, constantly scratching her breasts.
So customs checked her and found that her bra contained 75 live snakes and 6 lizards...
In November 2007, a mother and daughter on vacation in Thailand bought a baby rhesus monkey and wanted to take it home as a pet.
When they returned to the United States, they sedated the monkey and placed it on the abdomen of their 28-year-old daughter, pretending she was pregnant.
They successfully passed through security and returned to the United States, and then they took the monkeys to public to show how smart they were, and they were arrested...
At an Australian airport in 2005, a customs officer heard a strange sound of water coming from under a woman's skirt and took her for examination.
She wore a special apron under her skirt and put a dozen bags of water with 51 live tropical fish...
A Dutchman was found to have made a special dress with many pockets sewn into it, containing 10 West African parrot eggs. The man was eventually sentenced to 4 months and 25 days in prison and deportation.
The way these smugglers smuggle animals is bizarre, even ridiculous.
But at the same time, it also makes people worry about how many more bizarre smuggling methods have not been discovered, how many animals have not been rescued, and how many rare animals have died because of smuggling...
Behind the ridiculousness, in fact, there are more sad and terrible hidden...
(In 2019, 7 tiger cubs froze to death in the trunk of a car during smuggling)