Tortoise Smuggling on the Rise

I admit I stole the title of this post straight from the article.

PETA Exposes Horrible Practice of Reptile Skinning

The skins are being used for handbags and other products.

This link has a horrible photo and a worse video. Just warning you...

It takes place in Indonesia.

Tourist Tries to Smuggle 44 Lizards in Underwear

You can't make these things up.

Yikes! Two TONS of Snakes & Tortoises Seized

Yes, that's right. TWO TONS. In Cambodia. Luckily, they were alive and released back into the wild.

From the AP last week...

Cambodian police confiscated two tons of live snakes and tortoises and arrested two men trying to smuggle the slithering cargo up a river from Cambodia to Vietnam, authorities said Thursday.

Acting on a tip, police intercepted the boat Wednesday on the Bassac River in southeastern Cambodia just before it crossed into Vietnam. They found 3,640 pounds (1,655 kilograms) of snakes, mostly pythons, and 263 tortoises that weighed a combined 697 pounds (317 kilograms), said Col. Chan Savouen, deputy police chief of Kandal province.

South African Caught Smuggling Live Crocodiles

He was caught at an airport with about 70 live animals, including at least three different endangered species and eight inch-long Caiman crocodiles.

The article says most are okay, but in varying stages of health. I don't know how these poor animals survive stuffed in luggage. Very cruel.