Endangered Animal 'Ark' Found Off China
Posted on: Saturday, 26 May 2007, 18:00 CDT
Five thousand of the world's rarest animals were found by fishermen in a known smuggling area adrift in an abandoned boat near China's coast.
The Guardian reported Saturday that a veritable Noah's Ark of endangered pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were all crushed inside crates aboard the rickety wooden boat, many near death from dehydration.
Chinese Coast Guard officials boarded the craft and found more than 200 crates filled with the foul-smelling animals, which weighed in at 13 tons. They were sprayed down with water and sent to the Guangdong Wild Animal Protection Center.
Conservation groups told the British newspaper the boat was in one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of Southeast Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China.
The creatures are critically endangered but nonetheless considered delicacies in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is known for its exotic cuisine.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- Researchers In China Create Nearly Unsinkable Mini-Boats
- China Blasts Japan Over Boat Collision
- 19 Missing in China Boat Collision
- China Report Shows Yangtze Water Environment Deteriorating
- China Love Boat Wants Rich, Good-Looking
- Fishing Boat Sinks in East China, 24 Missing
- 'SpongeBob SquarePants' to Hit China TV
- Typhoon injures 34 in Taiwan, heads for China
- U.S. officials scoff at China equity oil quest
- China evacuates over 600,000 as typhoon nears
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds