Kinmen Airport police on Thursday detained three people who allegedly tried to smuggle 68 Japanese white-eye birds, ground squirrels, ermines and other live animals tucked inside their pants.
Police stopped the people, surnamed Chen (陳), Lai (賴) and Wu (吳), at customs because they were behaving suspiciously and their pants legs appeared to be stuffed, officers from the Aviation Police Agency’s Kinmen Precinct said.
A search revealed that the people had secured to their legs fishnet stockings that contained 20 of the birds, 32 squirrels, eight ermines and eight other birds of unidentified species, many of which were in poor physical condition, the officers said.
Photo courtesy of the Kinmen Station of the Aviation Police Bureau’s Taipei Branch
The officers called the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and the coast guard for assistance, and the case has been referred to the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office, the officers said.
The three suspects were traveling from China to Taiwan.
The contraband animals are to be put down humanely once other agencies have identified and tested them for diseases, the police said, adding that no previous incident of smuggling involving live ermines or ground squirrels was known to the precinct.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Rabies and avian influenza are endemic in China and the former can be passed to humans via wild animals, including ermines, bureau head Wen Shui-cheng (文水成) said.
The Livestock Research Institute and the Council of Agriculture are to examine saliva samples from the birds for signs of avian influenza, he said.
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