Upon arriving at customs in Berlin’s Schönefeld Airport on February 3rd, a 69-year-old man, who had flown in from Cairo, Egypt, explained to officers that he had nothing to declare and demanded to leave the security area. But officers noticed a suspicious pastry box in the man’s bag and decided to double-check his claim. According to a press release from the customs office, the man said he was transporting a box of chocolate pastries.
But alas — when the customs officers checked out the “chocolates” inside the box, they found three live Moroccan tortoises.
The tortoises are protected by the Washington Convention on the Protection of Animals, and were therefore immediately confiscated. They were placed in the care of the border veterinarian to await further action from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.
As stated by the Hauptzollamt Potsdam customs report, breaking the protection regulations as this man did could result in a €50,000 (about $57,000) fine or five years in jail. Oof.
We’re not sure how the man thought he would slip through customs with a pastry box clearly filled with turtles, but we’re so glad his plan was thwarted.
Tortoise shells are beautiful and all, but they certainly don’t look like pastries, dude.
Hauptzollamt Potsdam
Nope. These are straight-up turtles.
Hauptzollamt Potsdam
In 2011, the TSA reported that another passenger attempted to smuggle three small turtles through customs.
He also was carrying snakes stuffed in nylon stockings — which he was storing in his pants.
Truth be told, tortoises aren’t the weirdest animals to ever take to the sky.
With the influx of emotional support animals, airlines have had to grapple with even stranger species lining up to board.
Take, for example, this monkey named Gizmo.
MONKEY BUSINESS! Meet Gizmo who stirred all that trouble on a #LasVegas bound Frontier Airlines flight 🐒✈️@News3LV pic.twitter.com/aQv8j4bT8u
— Nathan O'Neal (@nateoneal) August 15, 2016
And this turkey…? Sure.
Who could forget this emotional support peacock that was restricted from boarding a United flight out of Newark, New Jersey in 2018?
We certainly couldn’t.
[fm_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PE5Mxbxy-E"]This passenger brought her duck on board at Charleston CHS. The TSA Instagram account reminded followers to check service animal policies before arriving to the airport.
It looks like peacock lady didn’t get that memo.
Weirdly enough, did you know that passengers are allowed to transport live lobsters in checked baggage? TSA says it’s A-OK.
Before you ask — yes, crabs are also cool to travel with. You can even bring them along in your carry-on.
And apparently some can get away with wrapping a baby kangaroo like a baby and bringing it aboard. #Cutepassenger is right.
Emotional support inflatable flamingos — although “out of their element in the airport environment” — have also succesfully made their way through the TSA checkpoint.
“It’s a delicate situation when a flamingo leaves its natural habitat in the suburbs.”
It’s a really good thing the TSA has a sense of humor. At least, whoever is running their Instagram account sure does.
“Your dinosaur would have to be placed in the cargo hold because well, he’s a dinosaur… But also because he wouldn’t be able to raise his arms in the body scanner.”
So true, TSA.
So true.
If you ever have any questions about bringing your emotional support animals, or other strange creatures you come upon, with you on the plane, feel free to shoot a message to @AskTSA on Twitter.
They should be able to help you out with all your burning flying-related questions.
Just don’t try to pass off tortoises as chocolates. That’s a blatant no-no.
Don’t try this at home, kids.
Seriously.
