Jakarta Globe – AFP, February 19, 2014
Manila.
Wildlife officers said Wednesday they had seized almost 100 exotic animals and
birds, including cockatoos, echidnas and wallabies, that had been smuggled into
the Philippines for sale to wealthy collectors.
The cache,
hidden in small containers in a van, was made up of wildlife from Australia,
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, said Eric Gallego, spokesman for the local
office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
They
included yellow-crested cockatoos and long-beaked echidnas, two species listed
as “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature.
They also
included four wallabies from Australia and about 90 exotic parrots from
Indonesia, said Gallego.
Several of
the birds or animals had died, possibly from the stress of long travel in harsh
conditions, he told AFP.
Law
enforcers acting on a tip stopped a van with the wildlife and two attendants in
the southern city of Surigao on Mindanao island on Saturday, just as the
vehicle was about to board a ship heading north.
The birds
and animals are believed to have been shipped from Indonesia to Malaysia and
then across the maritime border to the southern Philippines where they would be
taken to Manila, said Gallego.
“There must
have been an order from a rich person in Manila for the animals as collector’s
items. It must be someone who is into rare animals,” he told AFP.
The head of
the government’s wildlife division Josefina de Leon said a crime syndicate with
members from different countries was known to be smuggling rare animals from
Malaysia into the southern Philippines.
Two men
caught with the van will be charged with illegally transporting wildlife, a
crime punishable up to six months in jail and a 50,000 peso ($1,120) fine
depending on the rarity of the animals involved.
Agence France-Presse
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