Smuggler Caught with Over 10 Percent of Wild Ploughshare Tortoise Population in His Bag

The ploughshare tortoise is one of the rarest species in the world. Scientists currently estimate that there are only 400 individuals still left in the wild--so it's a mystery as to how two suspects managed to stuff over 10 percent of the remaining population in one bag in an attempt to smuggle the creatures into Bangkok.

A 38-year-old Thai man was arrested after he tried to collect the bag, which was filled with 54 ploughshare tortoises and 21 radiated tortoises, which are also critically endangered. The bag, though, wasn't registered to him. Instead, it supposedly belonged to a 25-year-old Malagasy woman who had flown from Madagascar to Bangkok via Nairobi. Both were arrested and will be tried under Thai law. If convicted, they could face four years in prison and a hefty fine.

"The criminals have effectively stolen over 10 percent of the estimated population in the wild," said Chris R. Shepherd, deputy direct of the wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic, in a statement released by the organization. "We urge authorities to go after the criminal masterminds behind these shipments and break the trade chains that threaten these incredibly rare animals."

Both the radiated tortoise and the ploughshare tortoise are native to Madagascar. The ploughshare tortoise in particular has been hit by a series of disasters, including habitat destruction and, more recently, the pet trade. Since they do not reach sexual maturity until they are at least 15 years old, the species can't reproduce quickly; this means that the population has continued to dwindle as individuals are smuggled out of the country.

Because they are so rare, individual tortoises fetch a high price in the illegal pet trade. One full-grown female tortoise could command a price as high as $60,000 on the black market. Obviously, there's quite a bit of incentive for criminals to try and smuggle the tortoises out of the country.

Currently, the recovered tortoises are being held at a breeding center in Thailand in the hopes that they can be returned to Madagascar as soon as possible.