1,500 tarantulas do NOT smell like chocolate sponge cake.
The illegal wildlife trafficking has become one of the top illicit trades worldwide, generating as much as $23 billion a year in a massive and unregulated global trade.
The animals are smuggled for clandestine scientific research, collectors and pet enthusiasts and for resale in black markets.
Western nations have stepped up their efforts to curb this dark trend, leading to more seizures, as just happened today (14) in Germany.
Customs officials on Monday released photos from a seizure of roughly 1,500 young tarantulas.
The spiders were found inside plastic containers that hidden in chocolate sponge cake boxes that were shipped to western Germany.
ABC News reported:
“Customs officials found the shipment at Cologne Bonn airport in a package that had arrived from Vietnam, tipped off by a ‘noticeable smell’ that didn’t resemble the expected aroma of the 7 kilograms (about 15 pounds) of the confectionery treats, Cologne customs office spokesman Jens Ahland said.
‘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’, Ahland said in a statement.”
Customs officials released photos from a seizure of roughly 1,500 young tarantulas hidden in chocolate spongecake boxes shipped to a German airport. https://t.co/yfOtq1nRAm
— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) July 14, 2025
The ‘extraordinary seizure’ was not able to save many of the spiders’ lives, as they didn’t survive the trip.
The survivors of the ordeal were given to the care of an expert handler, the office said.
The survivor tarantulas are under the care of a specialist.
“Criminal proceedings are underway against the intended recipient in the Sauerland region, east of the airport, in part for alleged violations of failure to pay the proper import duties and make the proper customs declarations, the office said.”
Read more:
Curator at American Museum of Natural History Arrested in Turkey for Allegedly Smuggling Spiders and Scorpions (VIDEO)
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