7 Men Busted In Illegal, Million-Dollar Flying Squirrel Trafficking Ring

Apparently, they are in high demand!

It was a 19-month investigation that ended on Monday with the arrest of 7 men charged in what The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is calling an “elaborate organized enterprise to smuggle Florida’s wildlife to interstate and international buyers.”

 

Flying squirrels are a protected species in Florida.

 

Officials said the men would catch the squirrels in rural Florida, sell them to dealers in Florida as well as Georgia, who would then in turn find buyers in South Korea.

 

The man arrested in the illegal ring caught an estimated 36,000 squirrels in the past three years, amounting to approximately $1 million in value.

 

FUN FACTS ABOUT FLYING SQUIRRELS

 

  • Those cute big eyes are to help them with night vision
  • They can glide 300 Feet
  • They can make 180 turns in the air
  • Some are larger than a house cat
  • Some glow at night!