INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE (Paris, France) 24 January 07 Vietnamese police confiscate snakes, turtles bound for Chinese dinner tables
Hanoi, Vietnam (AP): Police in northern Vietnam confiscated nearly 8 tons of snakes and turtles destined for restaurants in neighboring China, an official said Wednesday.
The animals were smuggled from Thailand across Laos into Vietnam and were discovered in the back of a truck in the northern port city of Haiphong, where they were to be loaded onto a China-bound ship, said Pham Van Long, an official with the city's Forest Control Bureau.
Long said two-thirds of the animals had already died, and the bureau was asking the government what to do with the remaining snakes and turtles.
Although the sale of wild animals is illegal in Vietnam, traders continue to smuggle exotic creatures across the border to China, where they are popular in restaurants.
Vietnamese police confiscate snakes, turtles bound for Chinese dinner tables