Saving Wildlife

Philippine authorities said Monday that they confiscated more than 1,500 live turtles after they were found hidden inside luggage at Manila airport. The different species of turtles found were found inside four pieces of luggage left behind by a Filipino passenger who arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on a Philippine Airlines flight from Hong Kong, customs officials said in a statement. 1,529 turtles were transferred to the Wildlife Trafficking Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, according to the statement. If convicted of illegal wildlife trafficking, the penalty may reach two years in prison and a fine that may reach 200,000 pesos, which is equivalent to $3,861. Last year, Philippine authorities seized 560 wildlife and endangered species, including 250 geckos and 254 pieces of coral found in air parcels, luggage and shipments, and transferred them to the Wildlife Trafficking Monitoring Unit, according to the statement. For more on Euronews: The World Wildlife Fund warns Australia of the near extinction of koalas More than a third of the world's insect species are threatened with extinction due to humans A female Sumatran tiger was killed by the fangs of her "colleague" at the London Zoo