SINGAPORE -- When Thai officials stopped a man trying to enter the country from neighboring Myanmar in late September, they found a surprise inside his luggage. Stuffed into eight suitcases were about 9,100 turtles and tortoises -- some worth hundreds of dollars apiece on the black market -- bound for pet merchants in Thailand.
Asia Insight
COVID casts Asia's exotic pet trade in harsher light
From Thailand to Japan, health risks add to animal welfare and biodiversity concerns
