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NEW STRAITS TIMES (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) 25 May 05 RM2,550 paid for rescued pythons at auction
Malacca: The 238 reticulated pythons seized by the Wildlife Protection Department from smugglers last week were today auctioned off for RM2,550. ($848 Cdn/$671 US)
A company licensed to trade in such reptiles bought the constrictors for their skin to be made into leather goods. State Wildlife Protection Department Rahim Osman said the Python reticulatus or ular sawa batik were snapped up by the company from Ayer Keroh this morning.
He said there were three interested parties who bid for the pythons, but only one offered to buy all the snakes, including several which had died.
It is learnt the company intends to sell the pythons to a third party in Penang, where the reptiles would be killed for their skin.
The pythons were seized from three men last week when wildlife officers intercepted a lorry on Jalan Ayer Keroh here.
The suspects were believed to be on their way to sell their catch in Penang after trapping the snakes in Rompin and Alor Gajah.
The seized snakes were subsequently sent to the Malacca Zoo, where they were stored without being released from the gunny sacks and cages in which they had been kept.
The reticulated python is a protected species but can be caught and traded with a permit which costs RM1 per snake.
Rahim said the department had no choice but to auction the snakes as it was "not advisable" to release them back to the wild. The department also feels there are enough snakes of the species in Malaysian jungles.
Rahim said one of the men who was caught transporting the snakes would be brought to court on Friday.
RM2,550 paid for rescued pythons at auction

:/

So they took them from poachers who were going to "illegally" sell them for skin and sold them to poachers that are going to "legally" sell them for skin?

Sounds like they wern't worried about their native animals as much as they were worried about making their cut of the profit...