A driver going by way of the U.S.-Mexican border on the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, has been accused of unlawfully bringing a spider monkey alongside for the trip. 

On Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection brokers referred a passenger automotive for a secondary inspection as a result of driver Ilse Georgina Herrera had an expired everlasting residency card. 

Ms. Herrera, a Brownsville resident, initially stated that she had pushed her youngster to Matamoros, Mexico, straight throughout from Brownsville for a physician’s appointment.

When CBP officers started taking the automotive for secondary inspection, an unidentified human passenger carrying a blanket bought out, refusing to observe CBP directions. Upon eradicating the blanket, CBP officers discovered a bag containing the monkey.

The passenger informed brokers that he had simply bought the monkey in Mexico for a good friend as a pet. The northern restrict of spider monkey populations is in southern Mexico. 

Ms. Herrera had a distinct story for Homeland Security Investigations officers. She claimed that she had taken the monkey to Mexico as a result of it, somewhat than her youngster, was sick and in want of medicine.

Further inspection purportedly discovered messages between Ms. Herrera and one other one that defined methods to efficiently smuggle a spider monkey from Mexico into the U.S. 

The importation of spider monkeys into America is regulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a part of worldwide regulation concerning protected species. As such, bringing one into the U.S. as a pet or for different non-regulation functions is against the law.

In addition to the alleged messages concerning smuggling, Ms. Herrera can be accused of missing the mandatory permits to legally import the spider monkey.

After being seized by CBP, the monkey was returned to Mexico.

Ms. Herrera has been charged with conspiring to illegally import wildlife into the United States, and made her first look in court docket Friday, in accordance with native newspaper The Monitor.

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