A few months back a Deutsche Welle report revealed that India has witnessed a surge in the illicit smuggling of exotic animals through border countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. While the smuggling of small exotic wildlife creatures is rapidly on the rise, several cases hold evidence that animal trafficking hasn’t spared big animals like kangaroos. In a recent turn of events, customs officials seized as many as five exotic animals from a passenger’s bag at Chennai Airport. The passenger, who has been arrested now, was smuggling five Dwarf and Common-spotted Cuscus from Bangkok in check-in baggage on Sunday. The incident came to light after the official Twitter page of Chennai customs shared the video of the exotic animals with the information in the caption.
As per the Chennai customs, cuscus arrived in India concealed in check-in baggage, and after being found was deported to Thailand. While sharing the video, Chennai customs wrote in the caption, “On 23.10.22, Custom officers seized/detained 5Nos. of Dwarf and Common spotted Cuscus concealed inside check-in baggage from a pax who arrived from Bangkok. All the Cuscus were deported to Thailand as advised by AQ authorities. Pax arrested.”
However, the video of the animals started making rounds on the internet after it was re-shared by IFS Officer Praveen Kaswan, who took it to the caption of the video and talked about the ‘plight of the smuggled animals’. The IFS officer wrote, “Customs seized five Dwarf and Common spotted Cuscus concealed in baggage from a passenger coming from Bangkok. Imagine the plight of these kinds of smuggled wildlife.”
According to a recent NDTV report, the common dwarf mongoose is a species of mongoose that is native to Angola, northern Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Zambia, and East Africa. Talking about its physical features, the common dwarf mongoose has soft fur varying from yellowish red to very dark brown. They have a large pointed head with small ears, a long tail, short limbs, and long claws.
On the other hand, the common spotted cuscus is native to Australia’s Cape York region, New Guinea, and nearby smaller islands. It is also known as white cuscus and is about the size of a common house cat. Featuring a round head and small hidden ears, the common spotted cuscus possess thick fur and a prehensile tail that aids in climbing. Surprisingly, earlier this month, as many as 665 animals belonging to exotic species were seized at the Mumbai airport.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.