216 poisonous frogs found abandoned inside airport toilet
The animals had been packed inside film canisters.
Colombian Police found 216 live poisonous frogs hidden in a bathroom at Bogota Airport, the District’s Environment Authority said on Wednesday.
The animals had been packed inside film canisters.
They were meant to be smuggled to Germany to be sold to collectors, the daily El Espectador reported.
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The smugglers may have got frightened of being caught and abandoned the animals, according to the daily.
The frogs could have been sold for about $400,000 on the black market, according to the environment authority.
They are believed to have come from Colombia’s Pacific region and are from three species: the red-banded poison frog, classified as critically endangered, and the harlequin poison frog and Oophaga sylvatica frog, which are threatened by habitat loss.
dpa/NAN.