Baby Tiger Found Stuffed in Bag at Thai Airport

Authorities at Bangkok's international airport found a baby tiger cub that had been drugged and hidden among stuffed toy tigers in the suitcase of a woman flying from Thailand to Iran, an official and a wildlife protection group said Friday.

Photo: Baby Tiger Found Stuffed in Bag at Thai Airport

The woman, a Thai national, had checked in for her flight and her oversized bag was sent for an X-ray which showed what appeared to be a live animal inside, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring group.

The woman was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport before boarding her Sunday flight. The cub, estimated to be about 3 months old, was sent to a wildlife conservation center in Bangkok, The Associated Press reports.

A 31-year-old Thai woman was detained for questioning and was unable to explain why there was a real tiger in the bag.

"The woman trying to check in the oversized bag denied any knowledge of the tiger. She said she was carrying it for someone else," Nirat Nipanand, an airport customs official in charge of tracking animal told.

An investigation was underway and DNA samples were due to be taken to find out the species of the cub, which had been sedated with anti-depressants, and determine whether it was caught in the wild or bred in captivity, Reuters informs.