Two tiny Asian black bear cubs were seized from a smuggler in Mae Hong Son province in northern Thailand yesterday.
The smuggler, who was arrested under suspicion of wildlife trafficking, claims he saved the bears when their mother got chased by a dog on the Myanmar side of the border.
Head of the Office of Conversation Area 16, Pornthep Chareonsuebsakul, said he received a call at 4.30pm from the Deputy Chief of Tham Pla-Namtok Pha Suea National Park, Kiattisak Wangwan, to say that he, park rangers and soldiers jointly arrested a man under suspicion of smuggling two Asian black bear cubs into Thailand.
One of the cubs is male and the other is female. They are both estimated to be around one month old.
Officers seized the cubs at a refugee camp in the Pang Moo subdistrict, outside the boundaries of…
