A Thai woman faces up to four years in prison after she was caught smuggling a drugged tiger cub in her luggage at Bangkok’s airport.
The baby tiger was placed in the luggage along with stuffed tiger toys, in a bid to fool airport officials. But 31 year old Piyavan Palasarn, failed to take into account that an X-ray of her luggage would reveal that one of the tigers was not like the others. The images revealed an item resembling a real cat inside the suitcase – which turned out to be a three month-old live tiger cub.
The cat was sent to an animal protection agency, where employees described it as gaunt and dehydrated. A couple of days of water, milk and oxygen has resulted in a much healthier young animal.
Palasarn was en route to Iran when she was stopped. She has denied responsibility and says another passenger asked her to check the heavy suitcase as her own.
Reports suggest that the young tiger would likely have become someone’s exotic pet.
