Woman detained for petting endangered animals at home
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A 25-year-old woman has been arrested for keeping endangered animals as pets in a condominium unit in Kuala Lumpur.
The hotel worker has kept a young Malayan honey bear, a leopard cat and a slow loris, which are defined as endangered species, in individual cages in the unit belonging to the woman and a male relative of hers, local media reported on Tuesday.
The woman claimed that the animals belonged to the relative who was not at the condominium when enforcement officers from the Selangor Wildlife and National Parks Department raided it on Friday.
Deputy director of the department Khairi Ahmad said at a press conference on Monday that initial investigations showed the animals could have been bought in the Sembilan State, on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and kept as pets.
Khairi said the bear could fetch 5,000 ringgit (some 1,429 U.S. dollars) while the big cat and the slow loris were worth about 500 ringgit (some 143 U.S. dollars) each in the market.
The department will send the animals to the Malacca Zoo or release them back to the wild.
Khairi said that they were looking for the male relative, who is in his 30s, while the woman would be in detention until the case is to be heard on Dec. 29.
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