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– Guyanese among two charged with animal crueltyLos Angeles (Reuters) – A Guyanese was among two men charged with animal cruelty after 15 monkeys they were shipping from Guyana to Thailand were found dead at Los Angeles International Airport, prosecutors said on Thursday.Florida-based wild animal broker Robert Matson Conyers, 44,Wholesale Stitched NFL Jerseys, and Akhtar Hussain,Cheap Jerseys Outlet, a Guyana supplier,Wholesale Jerseys From China, have each been charged with 10 counts of animal cruelty, Los Angeles City Attorney’s spokesman Frank Mateljan said.Conyers appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday,Cheap NFL Jerseys, Mateljan said, while Hussain remains at large and was thought to be in Guyana. Each man faces up to six months in jail and a $20,Wholesale NFL Jerseys,000 fine if convicted.The monkeys were said to be shipped in these containersMateljan said Hussain sold around two dozen primates to a buyer in Bangkok in February of 2008 and hired Conyers to deliver them.Conyers attempted to ship 14 Marmosets, five white-fronted Capuchins and six Squirrel Monkeys from Guyana to Bangkok through Miami, Los Angeles and then China,Cheap Jerseys, but the animals were refused transit in China because of an irregularity with shipping documents, Mateljan said.Fourteen of the monkeys died of neglect, starvation and hypothermia in transit back to Los Angeles, he said,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, and another had to be euthanized. The surviving animals were taken to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for further care.The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and ultimately handed over to Los Angeles prosecutors.“When you get to the point where there are dead animals and they’ve been in the plane for several hours, it gets to be a problem that we felt needed to be taken seriously,” Mateljan said. “This is definitely neglect and improper planning.” |
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