Video: Police make disturbing discovery after interrogation of truck driver, search of vehicle in Thailand

Local police in Chumphon, Thailand, busted a wildlife smuggling operation in late January 2025, arresting four suspects for the transportation of at least 17 total animals.

What's happening?

Thanks to an anonymous tip, police discovered a truck in the Muang district, rescuing six caged apes in the process — a lar gibbon, two black crested gibbons, and three orangutans. After interrogation of the truck's driver and passenger, police and wildlife officials conducted a raid on a house in Nonthaburi's Bang Bua Thong district.

There, they arrested two more perpetrators and discovered two red pandas, seven cotton-top tamarin monkeys, a mongoose, and a red-whiskered bulbul. All animals were given veterinary examinations before being transported to a wildlife rescue center.

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Authorities in Chumphon, Thailand rescued over 17 wild animals from an animal smuggling ring when they became suspicious of a truck hauling a baby orangutan.
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A video from The New York Post showed footage of some of the animals. In total, four people were arrested, and 17 animals were rescued as a result of the smuggling ring.

Why is wildlife smuggling a concern?

It should probably go without saying why wildlife smuggling is an important issue to combat. Transporting animals from their natural habitats not only resettles them in environments they may be ill-suited to thrive in — but it also disrupts their former ecosystems on a fundamental biological level.

Introducing certain animals into newer environments, especially human ones, can also cause the widespread proliferation of disease. The list of disease outbreaks caused and spread by wildlife smuggling is long and troubling— SARS, Ebola, and the Avian flu are just several examples.

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In addition, illegal wildlife trade can also disrupt tourism and economic development in nations where it occurs. At a conference in 2014, leaders from several African countries confirmed that their wildlife tourism operations were suffering economically as a result of the very skilled and violent poaching and wildlife capture operations taking place.

What's being done about it?

Wildlife smuggling has been a problem for decades and remains a cause of alarm worldwide. A 2024 study commissioned by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime concluded that it has actually increased in the last 10 years, reaching a peak during 2020 and 2021, and solutions on a governmental level seem to be elusive at the moment.

As for mere concerned citizens, however, there are small but impactful ways we can respond to the smuggling epidemic. Consciously choosing not to travel to countries advertising tourist experiences with animals involved in the trade (these animals include tigers, monkeys, orangutans, and many more), buying sustainably sourced products through ensuring their FSC certification, and refraining from purchasing endangered or so-called "exotic" animal items are just a few ways through which customers' economic power can be wielded in protest of the illegal animal trade.

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