Updated Aug. 6 at 11:38 a.m.
A woman has been charged with a felony for allegedly attempting to smuggle 29 protected turtles from Vermont to Canada, according to a press release issued last week by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Wan Yee Ng, 41, a Chinese woman living in Canada, was charged with “attempting to export merchandise contrary to law” and could face up to 10 years if convicted, according to the release.
Border Patrol agents had arrested Ng, of Hong Kong, on the shores of Lake Wallace in Canaan in June. They found 29 eastern box turtles wrapped in socks and stuffed in a duffel bag, according to an affidavit by Border Patrol agent Blake Thilkey.
An international body of water between the U.S. and Canada, Lake Wallace is known as a northern conduit for human and narcotic smuggling, according to the affidavit.
The court document stated that agents took note of Ng because she had rented the same property through Airbnb on Jackson Lodge Road in Canaan — a site of human smuggling “and other illegal activities” — multiple times.
Agents also determined that Ng’s spouse, Sio Wai Izzy Fung, had rented a different property also through Airbnb directly north on the Canadian shore of the lake, according to the affidavit.
“Based on this information and training and experience, agents believed that the rental of one property on United States side of Lake Wallace, an area known for smuggling activity, and another separate rental on the Canadian side of Lake Wallace by a husband and wife who were not staying with each other suggested possible smuggling activity,” Thilkey wrote.
On June 26, agents saw Ng prepare a kayak at the lakeshore and carry a duffle bag from her Airbnb rental to the kayak, according to the release.
Meanwhile, the release stated, police in Canada informed the agents that two people — “one of which was believed to be Ng’s spouse” — had started to paddle a watercraft from the Canadian side of the lake toward Vermont.
“Before she could leave the shore, agents intercepted Ng and detained her for suspected smuggling activity,” the release stated. “Agents then observed, through a partially opened zipper on the duffle bag, what appeared to be socks that were moving. Further inspection revealed the bag contained 29 turtles that were individually wrapped in socks to protect their shells and so they could not move.”
Eastern box turtles sell for at least $1,000 each on the black market in China, according to the affidavit. “Turtles with colorful markings are especially prized in the domestic and foreign pet trade market, particularly in China and Hong Kong,” the release stated.
Although the species is not deemed endangered at the national level, the eastern box turtle is listed as a species of special concern in some states, and in Maine it is listed as endangered, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
“China is by far the, I would guess you’d have to say, the worst actor when it comes to wildlife trade,” said Patrick Parenteau, an emeritus professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School. “I mean, they’re notorious.”
Parenteau said China is the primary market for illegal wildlife trade, but that the U.S. is by no means “blameless.”
Ng is being charged under a violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a multilateral treaty of nearly 200 countries, including the U.S. and Canada, which serves as a regulating mechanism against international trade of endangered species. Parenteau said that the Endangered Species Act of 1973 is the U.S. law that implements the trade agreement.
Species are categorized under three “appendices” corresponding to the level of required protection. Eastern box turtles are listed under Appendix II of the trade agreement, which indicates species that may be threatened with extinction without strictly regulated trade, according to the affidavit. Ng would have needed a foreign export permit to legally transport the 29 turtles to Canada.
A phone call to Ng’s defense attorney, Mark Kaplan of Burlington, for comment was not returned as of Tuesday morning.
She is being detained in Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. Her court date has not been set.
