Woman charged with attempted smuggling of protected box turtles near Canadian border

A federal grand jury last Thursday, Aug. 1, returned a single-count indictment charging a Chinese woman who, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont, attempted to smuggle eastern box turtles, a protected wildlife species, from the United States to Canada for the illegal global pet trade.

Wan Yee Ng, 41, of Hong Kong, is charged with attempting to export merchandise contrary to law. Her arraignment has not yet been scheduled.

According to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint in this case, Ng, a Chinese national living in Canada, came to the attention of the U.S. Border Patrol at the Beecher Falls Station in Canaan after repeatedly renting the same Vermont residence on Lake Wallace, an international body of water that has been used for human and narcotic smuggling. The U.S. Border Patrol also discerned that Ng’s husband was renting a separate property on the lake in Canada at the same time.

On the morning of June 26, agents saw Ng begin to prepare an inflatable kayak near the water’s edge and carry a duffle bag from the rented residence to the kayak. During this time, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police notified agents that two individuals, one of which was believed to be Ng’s spouse, had launched an inflatable watercraft on the Canadian side of Lake Wallace and began to paddle south toward the United States. Before she could leave the shore, agents detained Ng for suspected smuggling activity. Agents then observed, through a partially opened zipper on the duffle bag, what appeared to be socks that were moving.

The bag was found to contain 29 turtles, each wrapped in a sock to protect their shells and so they could not move. The turtles were preliminarily identified by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Special Agent as eastern box turtles,  a subspecies of the common box turtle. It is native to forested regions of the eastern United States with some isolated populations in the midwest.  These animals are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become threatened with extinction and of which the United States and Canada are parties.

Confiscated turtles are often in poor health and may need to be quarantined to reduce the risk of spreading disease.  If found guilty, Ng faces up to 10 years in prison.