LOS ANGELES – Customs officers in Los Angeles have seized a vast menagerie of stuffed-and-mounted animals including a wildebeest, a zebra, a gazelle and a baboon.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced and displayed the taxidermy take with an estimated value of nearly $9,000 on Wednesday.
They were seized last month at a port inspection when officers found seven boxes with "animal heads" written on them.
A customs statement says a 44-year-old man from the Philippines was touring the U.S. and got carried away at a Texas liquidator.
The man says he didn't know the mounts had to be declared to the federal wildlife officials and required export permits.
The baboon, a lynx and a bobcat — all full-bodied stuffed mounts — required an additional permit under an international endangered species convention.
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