German customs officers were left “speechless” after they found over 1,500 tarantulas in chocolate sponge boxes.
According to The Guardian, customs officers at Cologne Bonn Airport were stunned after finding around 1,500 young tarantulas in a 7 kg (about 15 lb) package that arrived from Vietnam.
The spiders were in plastic containers hidden in the chocolate sponge cake boxes.
The officers at the western German airport opened the package after smelling a “noticeable smell” from the boxes, as it does not resemble chocolate cake.
A Cologne customs office spokesperson, Jens Ahland, stated, “My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the fact that they found around 1,500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless.”
While praising the “extraordinary seizure,” Ahland expressed grief on animal cruelty, saying, “It saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit.”
The spokesperson noted that it was a violation of the German animal welfare laws and revealed that most of the spiders did not survive the trip.
However, the remaining tarantulas were sent into the care of an expert handler.
German authorities have begun a criminal investigation against the recipient of the package in the Sauerland region for not paying the correct import fees and declaring the spiders.
