Man caught transporting invasive stingrays, exotic fish at Texas airport
Courtesy: Texas Game Warden
FOX NEWS - One man is in hot water after he was caught transporting several illegal fish through Texas.
The Kansas man has been charged for shipping two types of live invasive species of fish to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, officials said.
The exotic fish, freshwater stingrays and boulengerella – both on Texas’ invasive species list – were transported to the airport via a shipping crate. The aquatic animals were packaged in bags of water set between bunches of newspaper inside the crate, a United States Fish and Wildlife Service inspector at the airport discovered.
The Texas Game Warden tweeted that the unidentified suspect told them he planned to drive the fish back to Kansas from Texas.
The fish are also illegal to have in Oklahoma, the tweet read.
Though the fish were alive when they were found at the airport, they are considered “exotic, harmful or potentially harmful” and were euthanized due to the potential harm they can pose to the native Texas ecosystem.
The fish were kept as evidence, officials reported to NBCDFW.
Earlier this week, Philippine officials found 757 live tarantulas hidden inside boxes of cookies and oatmeal being shipped from Poland.
The creepy arachnids were said to be worth about $5,900.
The man caught transporting the baby spiders was arrested and the tarantulas were seized.