A seven-year-old ball python measuring almost a meter long was accidentally found in the trunk of a car by customs at the French-Swiss border in Haute-Savoie.
The driver, who was in the middle of the journey from Lyon to Lausanne, was unable to present the mandatory permit to own this exotic reptile species, which is a protected species, France 3 reported on Tuesday.
The animal, stored in a box with three other reptiles, was said to have been purchased during a reptile exchange on the Leboncoin sales site, as the driver told customs officials in Saint-Julien Bardonnex.
The Python regius found in the person’s possessions is a species protected by the Washington Convention, a text in force since 1975 that protects and “regulates” the border crossing of 38,000 species of animals and plants.
Customs therefore “informed the person concerned about the crime of exporting prohibited goods without declaration” before entrusting the queue to a specialized structure, according to French media.
In 2022, 423 crimes were detected by customs authorities in France (14% more than in 2021), which led to the confiscation of “more than 100,000 specimens and products of protected species”, including leather, skins or even shells and corals.