Seize snakes found dead

SURABAYA: More than 90 percent of the 1,825 snakes seized last month by Juanda Airport authorities, due to a lack of proper export documents, were found dead because of poor packaging.

"Hundreds of the snakes were found dead when the containers were opened at Juanda," Sarkan Taniriadi, from the Nature Preservation Unit of the Provincial Forestry Office, said Thursday.

So far, a total of 1,650 snakes have died, he said.

The airport's customs and excise officers confiscated the snakes on Feb. 12 as the local exporter, PT Pilar Rekayasa Muda, failed to show the necessary documents for shipping the snakes to China.

The snakes were packed in 70 boxes, each measuring one meter by 50 centimeters by 30cm, Antara reported.

The export documents stated that the boxes contained frogs.

But officers operating the X-ray machine noticed a large number of long, black items inside each of the boxes.

The snakes were kept in a special compartment inside the specially designed boxes. (bsr)