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500 African cockroaches meet fiery death in Thailand
Fri May 23, 3:56 PM ET
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand's health ministry cremated more than 500 giant African cockroaches and declared the kingdom free of the bugs, which were banned last year after a surge in their popularity as pets.
The Madagascar hissing cockroaches, which had been confiscated and used as evidence in a court case, were stunned with pesticide before being burned alive in a hospital incinerator.
Some 1,000 bugs were originally confiscated last November, with a portion kept as evidence and the remainder used in research.
The roaches became the hottest thing in pets among Thai teenagers in 2002, raising concern among health officials that the rapidly multiplying roaches would spread typhoid and diarrhoea.
Some also feared the non-native creatures would damage Thailand's ecology.
The insect was subsequently banned under the country's 1992 Wildlife Protection and Conservation Act, under which which offenders may face up to four years in jail or a maximum 40,000 baht (952 dollars) fine.
Only one trafficker was prosecuted and fined 5,000 baht, the health ministry said in a statement.
"After a crackdown and invoking the ban officials tried to buy the cockroaches in sting operations, but did not find any other insect traffickers," the statement said.
The roaches, which can grow up to 10 centimetres (four inches) long and live for seven years, sold in Bangkok markets for 50 baht (1.20 dollars) each at the peak of their popularity.