Baby Gorilla Found In Airplane Cargo Compartment..."Saved during smuggling to Thailand".

A baby gorilla who was smuggled into Thailand in a cargo hold was rescued from Istanbul Airport in Turkiye.

Turkiye's animal protection authorities say the five-month-old baby gorilla was found last month at Istanbul Airport, a stopover, on its way from Nigeria to Thailand on a Turkish Airlines cargo hold.The gorilla

got the name 'Zaitin', which means olive, through a public offering and is currently recovering at a local zoo.

Both western and eastern gorillas, which live in remote forests and mountains in Central Africa, are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

While Istanbul has emerged as a major intercontinental aviation hub, Egyptian passengers were caught hiding 17 Nile crocodiles and 10 royal lizards in their luggage at Istanbul Airport in October last year.