Overview
- Gendarmerie officers from Escuadrón 16 in Clorinda found a live red-footed tortoise inside a metal pot under a passenger’s seat during a highway bus inspection on National Route 11 at kilometer 1,286.
- Agents zeroed in after noticing the passenger moving her legs to cover the container as the lid shifted, then asked her to open the pot and discovered the animal.
- The Juzgado de Instrucción y Correccional No. 1 of Clorinda ordered the woman’s detention and the tortoise’s immediate safeguarding under judicial oversight.
- The specimen was transferred to Formosa’s Dirección de Recursos Naturales y Gestión for evaluation and care in line with provincial wildlife rules.
- Authorities cited provincial Laws 1,060 and 1,314 that prohibit possession and transport of protected native fauna, and reports note the red-footed tortoise is a threatened species often targeted for the pet trade.