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Vessels of Death
On the 13th of September 2006 forest officers in Agra made one of the biggest seizures in the history of wildlife crime in India: 29,796 specimens comprising 43 marine and terrestrial species, many of them on the endangered list.
From small jars to large drums, it was a vast collection of formalin containers with an array of exotic species stuffed brutally in.
As container after container were opened, it brought home a sad truth: while the illegal trade in high profile species is well recognized, hundreds of other species are being slaughtered in large numbers, unseen, unpublicized.
Massive as this seizure was, it could, for all we know, be just the tip of the iceberg.
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