U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that a baby dolphin’s skull was discovered in a piece of luggage last week.
The suitcase was separated from its owner on a foreign flight returning to the United States, and at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport it was x-rayed. After noticing a shape resembling a skull, agents from the CBP and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined it to be a dolphin, according to the CBP.
Robert Larkin, Area Port Director for CBP, stated: “The carrying of wildlife items, especially those of protected animals, is banned.” To safeguard species and their habitats, “we take wildlife smuggling seriously and work closely with our federal counterparts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
The CBP stated that certain fish and wildlife products, such as “wild birds, land or marine mammals, reptiles, fish, shellfish, mollusks or invertebrates, and any animal part or product, to include skins, tusks, bone, feathers or eggs,” are subject to restrictions, permits, and prohibitions when entering and leaving the country.
