News on September 10, "exotic pets", as the name suggests, are rare and peculiar pets, such as lizards, snakes, spiders, honey gliders, etc. In recent years, the personalized needs of some domestic pet lovers have emerged a new trend of raising "exotic pets". However, many "exotic pets" belong to alien species, and there is a great risk of unknown origin.
According to the "Customs Release" public account, recently, the customs officer of Huanggang Customs under Shenzhen Customs found in the Futian Port travel inspection and entry channel that a female passenger had tight clothes and strange walking posture, and then guided her to the inspection desk for further inspection. After examination, a batch of live animals tied to his trouser pocket, waist and chest was seized.
It has been identified that 9 live snakes are king snakes, 6 live snakes are pig-nosed snakes, 4 live centipedes are Peruvian giant centipedes, and 1 live lizard is a lizard of the genus Soft Lizard, all of which are alien species.
At present, the batch of live animals has been handed over to the relevant departments for processing.
Some netizens said: "This is not a three or five guts can't do it" "Centipede in the trouser pocket, across the screen are afraid that it will come out and bite."
Source: "Customs Release" public number
It is reported that most of the current exotic pets are the product of multiple generations of artificial breeding in China, and the risk of viruses and parasites carried is controllable. However, as the interest of some enthusiasts has increased, many people have begun to try to obtain rare varieties from overseas or other sources, which also brings a series of risks such as species invasion and damage to local ecosystems.
In the first half of this year, customs across the country intercepted a total of 1,405 species of live animals and plants that were prohibited from entering the country, including 599 species of animals and plants that have no natural distribution on the mainland, such as giant centipedes, barbaric harvest ants, and spotted salamanders.
Experts said that viruses, bacteria, fungal pathogenic microorganisms in wild animals will have risks in the contact link, and the introduction of pathogenic microorganisms into the human body, further mutation, may endanger human health.