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| Lions, leopards among stuffed animals seized in French home | Lions, leopards among stuffed animals seized in French home |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| PARIS — French authorities say they seized three stuffed lions, three leopards and a giant crocodile head from a private home and turned them over to Paris’ natural history museum. | PARIS — French authorities say they seized three stuffed lions, three leopards and a giant crocodile head from a private home and turned them over to Paris’ natural history museum. |
| Customs officials are calling it one of the most remarkable seizures of protected species in recent years in France. | Customs officials are calling it one of the most remarkable seizures of protected species in recent years in France. |
| The specimens were brought back from an African hunt in the 1980s and stored in a home near the eastern city of Besancon along with dozens of other animals that the homeowner’s late father had killed and preserved. | |
| Customs agents seized the specimens after a tipoff last year. Even dead, the animals are protected by the Washington Convention on trade in endangered animals. They were handed over to the museum Tuesday. | Customs agents seized the specimens after a tipoff last year. Even dead, the animals are protected by the Washington Convention on trade in endangered animals. They were handed over to the museum Tuesday. |
| “These animals are of a great beauty, rarity and quality,” said Helene Crocquevieille, the head of the French customs office. | |
| She noted that these were only a fraction of the dozens or hundreds of seizures of protected species made by the French customs office annually — often the horns of rhinos or elephants that are poached and ground up as an ingredient in quack remedies. | |
| “This trade is becoming more profitable alongside that of arms and drugs,” Crocquevieille said. | |
| The hunter’s son was assessed an undisclosed fine. | |
| Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |