The Department of National Parks on Tuesday said some 100 anacondas may have been smuggled into Thailand illegally and an investigation has been launched.
The revelation coincided with the sharing of images on social media of a four-metre-long anaconda undergoing a surgery to remove a tumor from inside its heart at Klongluang Animal Hospital in Pathum Thani. The images have raised public doubts over the legality of possessing the giant snake from South America by individuals and safety concerns if they escape from enclosure.
Department deputy director-general Adisorn Nuchdumrong said on Tuesday anacondas were not protected species under Thai law but listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which include species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled.
Commercial trade and import of anacondas into Thailand were legal but the traders and importers must receive permission from the department.
Mr Adisorn said officials would also examine if the owner of the anaconda in the photos that have gone viral had obtained the animal legally.
Mr Adisorn quoted a veterinarian who performed the surgery to the anaconda, Taweesak Anansiriwattana, as saying that a Thai snake raiser imported the snake from Amazon jungle in Brazil about 10 years ago.
The department only granted the imports of about two dozens of anacondas between 2000 and 2006, 17 of them were owned by Zoological Park Organization.
Since 2006, the department has no longer approved the imports of the animal, given its danger if having escaped or being let loose. The department’s recent examination indicated that more than 100 anacondas might have been smuggled into Thailand, Mr Adisorn said, without elaborating. He added officials were expediting their investigation and considering amendments to relevant laws to prevent smugglers from exploiting the legal loopholes.