Last Thursday, the city of Lyon signed a three-year agreement with Lyon airport. The idea is to take charge of animals (exotic or otherwise) seized by customs at border crossings, in order to protect the rarest species. We’ll explain!
Exotic animals at the border
While this may seem surprising to the average person, airports are often places where you’ll find all kinds of strange (and illegal) things. Drugs and weapons, of course, but also… Exotic animals, which illegal owners try to hide as best they can. This was the case at Lyon Saint-Exupery airport, where teams found three Moorish tortoises in the luggage of a passenger arriving from Tunis in November 2023.
So what happens to these poor animals? To provide an emergency solution for animals that cannot easily be placed in a shelter (snakes, birds or turtles), the Tête d’Or zoo will take care of them before finding a lasting solution.
Certain conditions must be met before the animals can enter the park. They must: belong to the category of exotic animals whose health status is uncertain, belong to the list of animals authorized in the Lyon Zoo, or weigh less than 10 kilos.
All animals meeting at least one of these criteria will be cared for by staff in the zoo’s sanitary quarantine area. Despite the controversy surrounding the Tête d’Or zoological park in Lyon, its role in the preservation and well-being of rare species seems indisputable this time…