Free Republic

U.S. U.S. Border Patrol agents discover 7 "critically endangered" spider monkeys huddled inside migrant's backpack BY STEPHEN SMITH AUGUST 4, 2023 / 11:58 AM / CBS NEWS U.S. Border Patrol agents made a surprising discovery last weekend when they arrested a migrant carrying a backpack filled with seven spider monkeys, federal authorities said. Agents found the monkeys on Sunday when a Mexican juvenile was apprehended in Brownsville, Texas, which is on the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said in a statement. The Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Sector posted a video on Facebook showing the monkeys huddled inside a bag that appeared...

Sun Oct 26, 8:50 AM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo! GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Two little boys giggle as they play hide and seek among hundreds of filthy cages packed tight with civet cats, dogs, porcupines and squirrels. Health experts fear that wild animal markets like this one in southern China's Baiyun district could be the source of the next SARS (news - web sites) epidemic that many fear will emerge this winter, but traders and workers here could not be more oblivious. Amid the stench of death and decay, traders of exotic animals -- a...

SYDNEY (AFP) - A Swedish man was jailed in Australia for trying to smuggle eight dangerous snakes, including four deadly king cobras, through Sydney Airport strapped to his legs. A Sydney court heard Per Johan Adolfsson, 28, wanted to fund an eight-day holiday Down Under by selling the reptiles for about 5,000 dollars (3,450 US). His lawyer Michael Priddis told the court Adolfsson was travelling after suffering depression and alcohol abuse following a work accident in Sweden. Priddis said his client was not thinking straight when he bought the snakes from a dealer in Bangkok and strapped them to his...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Swedish man has been charged after Australian customs officers found eight dangerous snakes, including four dead king cobras, strapped to his leg after he arrived on a flight from Thailand, officials said on Wednesday. Australian customs spokesman Chris Schofield said the four king cobras were found dead in containers strapped to the man's calves when he was searched after arriving in Sydney on Monday. Likely to be hatchlings or babies, they had probably died in transit, he said. "That's one of the issues concerning fauna smuggling, as well...

A New York Post stunt went horribly wrong when a reporter bought an 8-day-old lion - then dumped the deathly ill cub at an Ohio animal sanctuary yesterday, authorities said. Post reporter Al Guart told animal refuge officials that he bought the 4-pound cub for $1,000 on the Internet as part of an exposé about animal trafficking - but panicked when he realized he couldn't care for the animal. "This is a beautiful little lion and what they did is wrong," said Ellen Whitehouse, director of Noah's Lost Ark, near Cleveland. Mahoning County sheriff's deputies were called after Guart and...