Peru seizes 4,000 live Amazon turtles at airport

Amazon turtles

Peruvian authorities have seized some 4,000 turtles that originated in the Amazon at the country's main international airport, the national wildlife service said Thursday.

The National Forestry and Wildlife Service said in a statement it has intercepted "a shipment of live turtles at the Jorge Chavez airport that were going to be exported to Indonesia."

Among the reptiles were baby Arrau turtles -- the largest river turtle in South America -- and the yellow-spotted river turtle, which were found in small transparent plastic containers inside cardboard boxes.

Both turtles are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora Appendix II, which requires the tracking and regulation of trade.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the yellow-spotted river turtle, the second largest freshwater turtle in the Amazon, as vulnerable to extinction.

According to Interpol, the black market for illegal wildlife products are worth up to $20 billion per year, and is pushing many species to the brink of extinction.

CITES says that tortoises and turtles are one of the most threatened groups of animals in the world.