Thai police found and confiscated 1,117 of the live and dead animals in the southern province of Chumphon in May -- the kingdom's largest ever seizure, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers, who often sell highly-prized endangered creatures on the lucrative black market in China, Vietnam and Taiwan.
The repatriation of the 963 animals -- ring-tailed lemurs, brown lemurs, spider tortoises and radiated tortoises -- is a "significant step" in anti-trafficking operations, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Chalermchai Sri-on said Wednesday.
Lemurs, which starred as loveable supporting characters in the Dreamworks "Madagascar" movies, are found only on the Indian Ocean island, and experts say they are threatened by trafficking into the pet trade. The furry primates and the tortoises will be sent to special centres once they return to Madagascar, said its environment minister Max Andonirina Fontaine who was in Thailand to oversee the repatriation.
The four species, which are endemic to Madagascar, are listed as near-extinct or threatened by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Thailand is Southeast Asia's biggest legal importer and exporter of CITES-listed wildlife from Madagascar, according to a report from TRAFFIC, a wildlife NGO. But according to the 2023 report, illegal trafficking persists and "the true extent is likely to be greater than those reflected by seizure records alone," it says.