World News | Austria Stops Man Trying to Smuggle in 74 Chameleons
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Austrian authorities stopped a man at Vienna airport as he tried to smuggle 74 protected chameleons from Africa into the country.
Berlin, Jan 25 (AP) Austrian authorities stopped a man at Vienna airport as he tried to smuggle 74 protected chameleons from Africa into the country.
They said in a statement Friday that a 56-year-old man, who was not further identified, had hidden the animals in socks and empty ice-cream boxes when he was caught at customs control in Vienna. He had traveled to Austria from Tanzania via Ethiopia.
The chameleons were taken to the Austrian capital's Schoenbrunn Zoo, which said that three of the animals did not survive.
All the animals were from the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania and ranged in age from 1 week old to adult animals.
On the black market they would sell for for about 37,000 euros (USD 44,9700), officials said.
The man who smuggled the animals into Austria has to pay a fine of up to 6,000 euros, the Austrian finance ministry said in a statement.(AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)