Shipment of World’s Rarest Tortoise Intercepted on Way to Indonesia

Jakarta Globe -

Madagascar police have arrested two men attempting to smuggle out nearly 200 threatened tortoises, including two dozen of the rarest species on Earth, a conservation group said on Thursday.

The shipment was destined for Indonesia.

The 26 specimens of Ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora) seized comprise about five per cent of the estimated surviving wild population of the critically endangered animal, native to northern Madagascar.

Authorities found the live tortoises in a box and three bags on the tarmac at Antananarivo’s Ivato Airport, according to Traffic, which monitors illegal trade in wildlife.

The contraband was minutes from being loaded on a plane, and was destined — after transfers in Nairobi and Dubai — for Jakarta, Indonesia, police reportedly said.

“In the case of rare, high value species like these, they would certainly have been destined for the pet trade in Asia,” Richard Thomas of Traffic said of the Ploughshare tortoises.

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