Tiger Cub Stuffed in Luggage

Thai authorities have seized a 2-month-old tiger cub from a woman who tried to smuggle it out of the country in a suitcase. The drugged cub was found in a checked bag full of stuffed-tiger toys, MSNBC reports. Bangkok authorities became suspicious after seeing the woman struggling with a large case as she checked in for a flight to Iran and spotted the live cub when they X-rayed her bag.

The cub is being cared for at a rescue center while authorities try to determine whether it was caught in the wild or bred in captivity. "If people are trying to smuggle live tigers in their check-in luggage, they obviously think wildlife smuggling is something easy to get away with and do not fear reprimand," says a spokesman for the wildlife monitoring group Traffic. "Only sustained pressure on wildlife traffickers and serious penalties can change that." (More Thailand stories.)