AN ANIMAL PROTECTION group says four Chinese nationals have been arrested on cruelty charges after they cut up and ate rare tortoises.
The men admitted killing 40 of the Bell’s hinged species, which are listed as endangered, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.
Another 13 live tortoises and tortoise meat were found in a house raided by investigators in rural southern Zimbabwe, the group said today.
Villagers reported selling tortoises to the Chinese citizens to eat and said the reptiles were dropped into boiling water to dislodge their shells before being butchered.
The four were found to have illegally entered Zimbabwe and were now in jail awaiting deportation, the group said.
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