Live tortoises tied in a female traveler's leggings are intercepted and rescued by the customs officers in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. (Photo: CCTV)
A woman was caught attempting to enter with 30 live tortoises tied in her leggings through the checkpoint for land border crossing in South China's Guangdong Province recently, with the tortoises being successfully rescued in time before dying of dehydration.
The 30 tortoises belong to the two species of red-footed tortoise and yellow-footed tortoise, both of which are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday.
At the time, the female traveler was wearing a long skirt and tried to cross through the "nothing to declare" channel at the Futian Checkpoint in Shenzhen, Guangdong.
The customs officers noticed that the woman appeared bulky, walked hurriedly, and was using a handbag to deliberately shield her body, prompting them to guide her to the inspection area for further examination.
Upon a thorough inspection, customs officers discovered that she was wearing two pairs of leggings, with 30 live tortoises wrapped in black stockings and hidden in the space between the layers. Some of the tortoises showed signs of dehydration and had suffered shell damage.
According to a customs officer from Huanggang Customs in Shenzhen, a local judicial appraisal institute identified the 30 live tortoises as red-footed or yellow-footed tortoises, both listed in Appendix II of CITES.
The rescued tortoises have been transferred to the Futian branch of the Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipal for shelter and care.
