Associated Press
Two Vietnamese were arrested for animal trafficking after a pair of live tigers was found sedated in the back seat of a car and four dead cats were found frozen in the home of one of the alleged smugglers, state media reported Wednesday.
The two live tigers were confiscated and the alleged traffickers—Nguyen Thuy Mui, 48, and Nguyen Quoc Truong, 43—were detained Monday, the Thanh Nien daily report said.
Police found the animals sedated in the car en route from Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, to nearby Ha Dong City. Police later discovered four frozen tigers in Truong's house, the biggest one weighing 330 pounds (150 kilograms).
Truong reportedly told police he had bought the tigers from a Hanoi zoo. The animals were to be processed into expensive traditional medicines that many believe will cure a number of ailments, the newspaper said.
Ngo Ba Oanh, the director of a rescue center in Hanoi, told the Associated Press that the tigers were in good condition.
Mui apparently raised the two live tigers from cubs in her house after buying them six months ago for 14,600 U.S. dollars. She agreed to sell them to Truong for 40,000 U.S. dollars.
Vietnam's tiger population has dramatically declined since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, because of shrinking natural habitats and poaching.
About 100 tigers live along Vietnam's borders with Laos and Cambodia, down from thousands before the end of the war, according to the Forestry Department.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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