These days, selling and trading items online is common enough to not be worth a second look. Some trades can raise eyebrows, but others can cross lines in the time it takes to send an email. One man found that out the hard way; he’s facing criminal charges for the mere ownership of animal parts, let alone the trade of them.
The police in Cowdenbeath stormed the home and found the remains — bear and leopard body parts, and by extension the parts of endangered species. The plan was to trade those animal parts to willing buyers for major cash; wildlife trade has proven as lucrative as it is illegal, and even something as simple as bear bile fetches a high price.
The strange part of the case is that the crime — long since brought to the attention of the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the World Wildlife Fund — occurred in the UK. That isn’t exactly a prime location for trade or acquisition, considering that the nearly-extinct leopard is found in Africa and southeast parts of Asia. Still, one can only hope that for the animals’ sake that this is an isolated incident.
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