Authorities raided a Pattaya real estate company after complaints it was holding a wild leopard on its property.
Banglamung District and Chonburi Province officials along with Pattaya police and soldiers from the 14th Military Circle stormed Wandee Group Co. on Thappraya Soi 5 Nov. 17 after a video clip posted online showed the company with illegal wildlife.
Inside the four-story structure, authorities found tanks for pythons, alligators, large sea fish, and rare coral. On the second floor, the team found more snakes, including some not native to Thailand, and various types of iguanas. Officers from Chonburi’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation took possession of the creatures.
Banglamung District and Chonburi Province officials along with Pattaya police and soldiers from the 14th Military Circle visited Wandee Group Co. on Thappraya Soi 5 after a video clip posted online showed the company with illegal wildlife.
Owner Nittaya Wongsin, 45, admitted she owned two leopards depicted in the video taken two months ago. She bought them from a vendor in Chatuchak Market in Bangkok because they were ill and she wanted to nurse them back to health. They’ve since been sent to an animal hospital in Bangkok and she has applied for permits to keep them, police said.
Banglamung special operations chief Pongtasith Pijanan said Nittaya was ordered not to dispose of the animals in her possession until they could be taken by wildlife agencies. Police and national parks officials will investigate the origins of the creatures and will press charges if they were obtained illegally.
