According to the Independent, airport personnel were surprised when a security dog discovered mummified monkeys in the luggage of a traveler coming from Africa.
The passenger, who claimed the luggage contained dried fish from a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was surprised to discover four dead and dehydrated monkeys during a check at Boston Logan International Airport.
According to Ryan Bissette, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman, the traveler confessed smuggling the monkeys into the United States for personal consumption.
However, the importation of raw or barely processed meat from wild animals, also known as “bushmeat,” is illegal in the United States due to the risk of disease.
Julio Caravia, the local port director for Customs and Border Protection, emphasized the true dangers of bringing bushmeat into the United States, stressing the potential of diseases such as the Ebola virus. Some HIV strains are thought to have arisen among bushmeat hunters in central and western Africa.
The event occurred last month, but only became public on Friday. Although no charges were brought, all of the luggage was seized, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention planned to destroy the approximately 9 pounds (4 kilograms) of bushmeat.
In a separate case earlier this month, a Brazilian woman traveling to Sao Paulo via Panama faced wildlife trafficking charges after authorities confiscated 130 Harlequin frogs from her suitcase in Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport.
