$35,000 fine for illegally importing turtles in boxes labelled 'children's building blocks'
CBC
Two years after border officials discovered live turtles, turtle eggs and turtle husbandry items in packages marked as "children's building blocks," a Calgary man has been fined $35,000 for the illegal importation and sale of the specimens after admitting to federal offences.
Zhongmin Zheng, 42, pleaded guilty last week to two charges under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of Interprovincial Trade Act.
The investigation that led to the charges involved turtles covertly marked with UV ink and an undercover wildlife officer posing as a Canada Post employee.
The reptile racket was uncovered on May 24, 2022, when the Canada Border Services Agency found two boxes of live turtles at a Canada Post mail centre in Mississauga, Ont.
Details of the offences come from an agreed statement of facts filed as part of Zheng's guilty pleas in court last week.
The packages had arrived from China and were addressed to Zheng's Calgary home
Wildlife officers from Environment and Climate Change Canada were called in.
The investigation revealed that between Jan. 1 and May 23, 2022, Zheng had imported eight packages from China, declared as "children's building blocks."
Two packages had been delivered to Zheng's home, two were at the Mississauga facility, three were en route to Alberta and one was still en route from China.
The shipments arrived in cooler boxes and Tupperware containers.
Investigators obtained search warrants and examined the packages held at the Mississauga and Calgary mail centres. Inside the shipments, they discovered turtles, eggs, turtle stickers and "various items identified as being needed for turtle husbandry."
One package had freshly hatched turtles. Another contained a dead turtle.
None of the shipments contained permits from Canada or China.
Environment Canada officers then applied a unique number to each turtle and egg using UV ink visible only with the use of a UV light.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.