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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION 26 January 05 Lizards rescued from Hong Kong cooking pots
(AFP) Malaysian wildlife authorities have seized nearly 1,000 monitor lizards as they were about to be flown to Hong Kong where they would have ended up in cooking pots, local media reports.
Wildlife Department enforcement unit deputy director Celescoriano Razond says officers acting on a tip-off discovered the 999 monitor lizards in 70 wooden boxes loaded onto a cargo plane.
All monitor lizards are listed as threatened animals by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and require permits for export.
The animals would have been sold as exotic cuisine in hotels and restaurants in Hong Kong, fetching prices of up to 25 ringgit ($A8.60) per kilogram.
Each monitor lizard weighs between three and five kilograms, making the cargo worth more than 100,000 ringgit ($A34,000).
The rescued monitor lizards would soon be released in the country's jungles.
Lizards rescued from Hong Kong cooking pots

that's the best news I've heard in a while.