When security workers at a Bangkok airport thought they’d spotted a real cat hidden among the plush toys of a passenger’s suitcase, they were right… in a big way. That feline was more than your garden variety house cat; it was a 2-month-old tiger cub.

The cub was found in a bag belonging to a 31-year old Thai national who was scheduled to board a Mahan Air flight to Iran. But then they X-rayed her luggage.

After the airport scanners noticed the suspicious shape of the cub, they called in officers from the Livestock Development Department and the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, who opened the bag and found the sedated tiger baby.

According to wildlife trade monitoring site Traffic.org, the cub is being cared for at the Rescue Center of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. DNA tests are being done in order to determine which subspecies the cub belongs to, which will help determine its origin.

Even though tigers are categorized as Endangered species and international commercial trade of the animals is prohibited, poachers are still hunting and capturing the animals, which are then sold off for their prized parts or live to collectors of rare and dangerous wildlife.

At least this woman was smarter than the guy in Mexico who tried to smuggle 18 monkeys on to a plane by hiding them under his shirt.

Live Tiger found in check-in baggage [Traffic.org via BBC]

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