Chinchillas worth NT$7.5m seized at Kaohsiung HarborBy Hung Ting-hung and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe Kaohsiung Harbor Police Department yesterday at the harbor seized 50 smuggled long-tailed chinchillas valued at NT$7.5 million (US$253,970). The rodents, each worth NT$150,000 on the pet market, were seized after police officers Pan Shih-ying (潘詩盈) and Shen Ya-chin (沈雅欽) found them in a minivan at a harbor checkpoint, the department said. Smuggled chinchillas look out of a makeshift cage after being seized by customs officers in Kaohsiung yesterday. Photo copied by Hung Ting-hung, Taipei TimesThe animals were likely smuggled from China, it said, adding that it was the largest number of illegally imported chinchillas the department has ever seized. Chinchillas are native to the Andes mountains in South America, and live in rock crevices and caves at high elevations, the Taipei City Animal Protection Office said.

Source: Taipei Times August 11, 2020 15:56 UTC