Leech smuggler busted at Toronto airport

A fellow was recently busted at Toronto Pearson International Airport for allegedly attempting to "import" 5,000 live leeches in his luggage. Apparently an airport security beagles sniffed out the parasites. From National Geographic:

The man claimed that the leeches in his possession were for personal use and that their waste water would enrich his orchids, (says Andri(C) Lupert, manager of intelligence for the Wildlife Enforcement Directorate at Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ontario Region.)

To Lupert, that seems shaky. "This sort of leech quantity would suggest it was for commercialization," he says, adding that the man could have been trying to find buyers for leech uses such as treating frostbite and helping with recovery from face lifts. Some people want leeches for naturopathic home use, believing that they relieve pain or can cleanse the body of "bad" blood. Without prescribed antibiotics, however, any such use carries risk of infections...

When Canadian officials seized 5,000 leeches, they were immediately confronted with a problem: what to do with them? They didn't want to kill the threatened animals-especially while the case remained under investigation. "Ultimately it's up to the judge if he wants to view the leeches in person because they're viewed as evidence," Lupert says. Nor did the authorities want to be saddled with them long-term. These species aren't endemic to Canada, so they shouldn't be released into the wild, Lupert says...

The Royal Ontario Museum agreed to accept 50 of the leeches, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History took 1,000, and authorities are still looking for homes for the rest.

"Why was this man's luggage stuffed with 5,000 leeches?" by Dina Fine Maron (National Geographic)

(image: "Sucking leech (Hirudo medicinalis)" by GlebK/Wikipedia)