A package containing up to 4,000 live bees sent from Poland and a consignment of eight alligator heads were among the items seized by Customs officials at An Post’s Portlaoise mail centre last year.
An active birds’ nest shipped from China was also detected by staff at the centre while their colleagues at Dublin Airport uncovered a wallet sent from Thailand made from the skin of the critically-endangered Siamese crocodile.
The records released by Revenue under the Freedom of Information Act show a total of nine seizures were made last year by Customs officials under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which controls the import and export of relevant species.
Hippo-tusk ivory
Other items seized under the legislation included hippo-tusk ivory from South Africa, conch shells from the US, five live insects from Thailand, and suspected coral brought through Dublin Airport from the Bahamas.
A kilo of stag beetles, so-called due to the 12cm long insects having large jaws resembling the antlers of a male deer, were also intercepted at the centre.
“Revenue ensures that legislation in respect of prohibitions and restrictions is complied with at points of entry into the State,” said a Revenue spokesperson.
In previous years, a spitting cobra and 20cm long scorpion were seized. Both creatures were sent from the Czech Republic but had died by the time they were detected at the mail centre.
Human consumption
A number of dead animals posted to Ireland for the purpose of human consumption have been discovered at the mail centre.
In 2014, two cooked and dehydrated zebra tarantulas and two sago worms that were similarly prepared were discovered in a package from Thailand.
Zebra tarantulas can grow as large as 13cm including leg span, and are kept as pets or eaten as a delicacy.