Zhuhai’s Gongbei Customs announced in a statement yesterday that a batch of 219 dried endangered seahorses were seized by Wanzai customs officers last month during the inspection of a parcel that was to be exported.
The statement said that the seahorses have meanwhile been confirmed to be National Second-Class Protected Animals.
The statement did not reveal where the parcel came from and what its destination was.
According to the statement, Wanzai customs officers discovered on June 6 that the X-ray images of a batch of goods declared as “Plastic Boxes” were abnormal.
The customs officers immediately opened the parcel and discovered 219 suspected dried seahorses in the parcel. The parcel was then sent to the South China Judicial Appraisal Centre for Animal Species Environmental Damage in Guangzhou for assessment, the statement said.
Gongbei Customs stressed that carrying or mailing endangered species and their products to the mainland must be approved by the relevant administrative department in advance. Their owners must hold an import certificate and take the initiative to declare the animals to customs officers, as otherwise the border crossers face legal action by the judicial authorities.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US, dried seahorses are used widely in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is believed that seahorses have the potential to cure infertility, baldness, asthma and arthritis.
A seahorse is any of 46 species of small marine bony fish.
This undated handout photo provided by the Gongbei Customs yesterday shows the 219 dried endangered seahorses seized by customs officers in Wanzai early last month.
