Thailand

December 3, 2001

FYI -

From -

Sunday, 2 December, 2001, 18:17 GMT

Armadillos saved from cooking pots

Asian diners are getting a taste for the exotic

By Simon Ingram in Bangkok

Customs officials in southern Thailand have seized nearly 500 live

armadillos as they were being smuggled into the country.

They were bound for restaurants in Bangkok and elsewhere in the region, and

are further confirmation of Asia's growing taste in exotic meat. The

creatures, all but three of whom survived their ordeal, were discovered

crammed into plastic containers in the back of a lorry.

Alert customs officials made their discovery while inspecting a lorry

crossing Thailand's southern border from Malaysia. In the back of the

vehicle were more than 480 young armadillos.

Those that survived will now be sent to a wildlife-breeding farm run by

Thailand's forestry department.

Lucrative business

The lorry driver was detained, but later released on bail. Armadillos are a

protected species under Thai conservation laws, and the offence of smuggling

them is - in theory - punishable by a fine and lengthy prison term.

But the smugglers apparently consider the risks worthwhile because of the

high price that armadillo meat, like that of other exotic species, commands.

Diners at specialist restaurants in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia - notably

in Taiwan, China and South Korea - are growing a taste for such exotic meat.

Another somewhat smaller consignment of the same animal was intercepted at

the Malaysian border last month.

When the animals are not bound for the stew pot, they usually end up as

ingredients in traditional medicines.

Last week, a shipment of nearly 2,000 turtles, almost all of them belonging

to a protected species, were seized at Bangkok international airport en

route for China.

Newspapers quoted sources saying that the smuggling of turtles, bears and

snakes into China grows in volume each winter because of extra demand for

traditional cures.

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