Three Chinese nationals arrested in Japan after thousands of protected hermit crabs found in suitcases | CNN

Idk if it’s still a thing or how widespread it is, but they sell/sold live fish and small reptiles/amphibians as keychains.. basically a small soft plastic pouch filled with oxygenated water so they can get crushed or suffocate in a week (turtles can probably survive a bit longer but.. regardless it’s gross). First article I found was from 2015, this one is from 2023..

https://thoughtnova.com/animals-trapped-alive-in-keychains-sold-for-1-50-in-china

You also don't hear about many (most?) who do and aren't caught.

I mean, you hear about the people who do something. You don't hear about the ones who don't.

EDIT: Also, hermit crab smuggling and the CIA? What?

No.

Can I see it?

Boner pills became widespread in China in early 00s and can be bought online very easily though afaik there's no credible evidence that it reduced poaching :(

It seems to be a stupid cultural status symbol but the association that it's for broken peepee still helps the cause imo. These people are disgusting losers that deserve no sympathy.

Non-hermit crabs.

They were in fact hermits in a case.

*Trips over only for dozens of hermit crabs to fall out of my pockets*

Spontaneous carcinization at this time of year, that time of day, in that part of Japan, localized entirely within their luggage?

Goddamit they’re always doing that. Pilfering plants and animals all around the world.

SEA is full of stories like this - no animal is safe from Chinese poaching from crabs to lemurs. There's seriously something incredibly wrong with Chinese animal culture and I'm baffled that it still persists in 2025. It's really fucking disgusting.

What's the point of all that technology if none of it is spent on educating idiots out of "rhino horn makes peepee bigger" rhetorics.

Not a big fan of Chinese citizens behaving like CIA agents in every nation they go to.

How the hell you can capture 160 kg of live crabs and put them alive in six luggages thinking that nobody would smell it?

They weren't hermits in this case.

I’m all for poly relationships, but a thousand crabs in one suitcase is a bit much…