Domodedovo is a
town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located 37 kilometers (23 mi) south of Moscow.
Domodedovo was founded in 1900 and
reportedly named d after a nearby village of Domodedovo, which is known to have
existed since 1410. Recently the airport
was in news – as baggage came out onto the carousel, so did a man, fast asleep,
with seemingly no idea at what was happening. It is unclear just exactly how
the man came to be on the carousel or his state — was he inebriated, just tired
or lost? And while a few passengers were seen taking photos, the majority
didn’t flinch as he cruised past them on the baggage belt. Moscow Domodedovo Airport is an international
airport, the largest airport in Russia and the former USSR in terms of passenger
and cargo traffic.
Recently I had
posted about the armed guards keeping vigil on 43 year old Sudan, which is the
last hope for its species - the northern white
rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum
cottoni). The demise of this species, is an indictment of
what the human race is doing to planet earth and it’s not just happening to
rhinos. The mass wiping of the species
was done by the human greed, of a creature big and otherwise harmless – the
only wrong that they possessed horns, which humans wrongly believed to be of great curative value.
If it is
poaching which did them in – there is also ‘smuggling’of smaller species – yet
this report of a “zoo in a suitcase” is rare and not totally unheard of !!!
MailOnline reports
that Customs officials have seized what is being described as a 'zoo in a
suitcase' from a woman accused of smuggling 108 exotic animals in Russia. In the bag, carried in the hold of the aircraft, there
were 55 snakes, 35 lizards, seven turtles, six lemurs, two monkeys and even a
suspected leopard cub. Two baby crocodiles died on the journey from Jakarta to
Moscow and all the survivors appeared terrified when they were found after the
6,515-mile ordeal.
The menagerie came
to light when customs officials at Domodedovo airport electronically scanned a
27kg bag belonging to an unnamed female passenger who had flown from Indonesia
via Qatar ~and were started to find the
cargo comprising of more than 100 exotic animals stuffed in this suitcase
belonging to a female passenger travelling on a flight from Indonesia to
Russia. Among the animals seized was
this suspected leopard cub, a species which is listed in the Red Book of
endangered animals. If it turns out to be the case, the suspect could face up
to seven years in prison
Spokeswoman Larisa
Ledovskikh said: 'The animals were packed in tiny cages and plastic boxes and
each snake was in small bag made of cloth.' Experts are trying to identify the
'amazingly beautiful "kitten" with bright green eyes and stripes'
among the trafficked animals. Officials in Moscow suspect it is a leopard cub,
a species which is listed in the Red Book of endangered animals.
The suspect claimed
she bought the animals for £130 in a market in Indonesia; the suspect denied intending to sell the animals
on the black market, claiming they were 'for future breeding'. Exotic animals are a lucrative business in
Russia, where private zoos are seen as de rigueur for the wealthy.
'It was a sad scene
- exhausted monkeys, scared lemurs, the begging green eyes of a beautiful
"cat",' wrote newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. After being impounded, the hungry and
exhausted creatures were handed to employees of Moscow's 'Exotic Park' where
they will be cared for until their future is decided. 'They will also establish if any of these
animals are under protection of the international convention on rare species.'
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
15th Apr
2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment