Beastly smugglers

The police in Zhejiang Province last week busted three men for smuggling two endangered animals and found one of the smugglers was a zoo director.

The three men, all Fuzhou residents, were stopped by the police for a routine traffic check on Zhejiang highway while driving from Fujian to Zhejiang. The police were tipped off to the fact they were smuggling animals after hearing odd noises and opening the trunk, they found two caged animals, a tiger and bear.

The man, who was later found to be the director of the Fujian Jiulong Zoo, told police that they rented the beasts from a zoo to perform in a circus but could not produce any paperwork when asked. He then contradicted his previous statement, and said they were borrowing the animals from a circus, but could not tell police the name of the circus.

They were arrested immediately and the case is under investigation.

www.chinanews.com.cn