Police Arrested for Stealing from Wildlife Smugglers
04 May 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- Three police officers were arrested in Trinidad and Tobago Saturday for stealing over one thousand protected animals from Venezuelan wildlife smugglers.
Reports show the three officers got a tip that two men were in the midst of smuggling endangered and protected Venezuelan wildlife species by boat. It was then that the officers decided to rob them at gunpoint and take the animals for themselves.
The boat contained over 1,000 live animals, which included parrots, monkeys, macaws, 300 picoplats and over 500 bull finches. In addition, there were over 400 pounds of wild meat.
The game wardens who arrested the three officers were trained to look out for wildlife smugglers just over a year ago by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Their training involved spotting illegal behaviour, as well as how to humanely confiscate and care for the animals.
"This is a major victory for people who care about protecting endangered species. IFAW works extremely hard worldwide to train law enforcement to identify and stop wildlife crime," said IFAW's Senior Program Officer in the Wildlife Trade Program Kelvin Alie.
The confiscated animals are currently being held at the Emperor Valley Zoo in Port-of-Spain. Once the court case is successfully reviewed, the native species will be returned back into the wild.
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