Tiger cub found in luggage

The cat's out of the bag - at least for a woman caught smuggling a live, two-month-old, drugged tiger cub in a suitcase full of toys at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Thai national, whose identity has not been revealed by Thai authorities, was scheduled to board a Mahan Air flight to Iran. But when she was seen struggling with a large bag at check-in, airport officials decided to x-ray her luggage.

The x-rays revealed the tranquillised tiger cub among stuffed-tiger toys, according to a statement released Thursday by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network. Officials are investigating whether the cub was wild caught or captive-bred, as well as where the woman intended to bring the tiger.

All Asian tigers are listed as endangered or worse by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), mostly due to the illegal trade in tiger parts.

Cat's Out of the Bag

Though authorities should be applauded for spotting the live tiger cub in luggage, the case demonstrated a real need for tougher action on tiger smuggling, according to Chris R. Shepherd, Southeast Asia deputy regional director for TRAFFIC.

"If people are trying to smuggle live tigers in their check-in luggage, they obviously think wildlife smuggling is something easy to get away with and do not fear reprimand," Shepherd said in a statement.

"Only sustained pressure on wildlife traffickers and serious penalties can change that."

Profitable Cub?

With wildlife trade on the rise, officials at the Airport who rescued the tiger cub had just gone through a training course on how to spot smugglers, which was sponsored by the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network, partly funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

While no one knows exactly how large the illegal wildlife trade is, it may well be the world's most profitable form of illegal trade.

Wildlife smugglers evade detection by hiding illegal wildlife in legal shipments.

They also bribe wildlife and customs officials, and they alter trade documents. Few wildlife smugglers are ever caught, and penalties are usually no more severe than a parking ticket.

Tigers Protected - to a Point

All tiger subspecies are listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement that prohibits commercial trade of big cats.

The agreement encompasses both wild-caught and captive tigers, including animals raised on so-called tiger farms. Even so, some tourist attractions - such as the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Park in Guillin, China - secretly operate as fronts for illegal tiger farming, butchering captive tigers for their parts.

Happy Ending for Tiger Cub?

There should be a happy ending for the smuggled tiger cub, which is being cared for at Thailand's Rescue Centre of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation, according to TRAFFIC.

DNA samples will determine the baby tiger's subspecies - such as Bengal, Sumatran, or Siberian - which will help authorities figure out where the cub came from.

Picture courtesy TRAFFIC - nationalgeographic.com