Mexico finds 15,000 turtles in crates bound for China

Mexican authorities said Tuesday they have seized a shipment of 158 wooden crates bound for China containing about 15,000 fresh-water turtles, some of them endangered.

The environmental prosecutors’office said the crates were found at a freight facility on the outskirts of Mexico City.

The turtles included white-lipped mud turtles, Mexican giant musk turtles, narrow-bridged musk turtles and the common red-eared slider. About 260 of the creatures had died in the crates.

The office said the turtles were not properly marked, nor did the shipment's paperwork accurately reflect the species of turtles involved.

The trade in other kinds of wildlife has been implicated in the transmission of threats like the novel coronavirus to humans.