Horrified police have seized two animal traffickers after finding the frozen corpses of seven weeks-old tiger cubs curled up in a freezer.
The tiny cubs were fated to be used in traditional Chinese medicine after being taken from their mothers and sold to the suspects in Vietnam.
Heartbreaking police evidence photos show each cub curled into a ball after they were removed from the freezer at a house in Ha Tinh Province on 21st December.
Other pictures show six frozen armadillo-like pangolins whose roasted scales are believed by followers to cure everything from nervousness to possession by a devil.
Police also confiscated the frozen head of an antelope-like serow found in the wild across South-East Asia.
Investigators named the suspects as 49-year-old Tran Anh Tuan and Nguyen Tien Dung, 50, following their arrest on 27th December.
Local media reported that each cub weighed between five and 10 kilogrammes, which would mean they were no older than two months when they were killed.
The suspects admitted to police that they had bought the endangered animals and frozen them to make traditional medicines for profit.
The Indochinese tiger cubs have near critically endangered status on IUCN’s Red List and experts estimate there are less than 350 left in the wild.
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Their bones are ground down in a treatment especially popular in Vietnam called Tiger Bone Glue.
Others believe eating part of a tiger penis can cure impotence.
All eight species of pangolin are currently listed as threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN.
Police say both suspects have been charged with offences against regulations on management and protection of endangered, rare animals.
The discovery of the freezer’s grim contents infuriated social media users.
One ‘elaineshepherd1’ said: “What sick stupid people would do this vile act against innocent animals, need locking up.”
And ‘blackoffi88’ added: “What is wrong with these people and especially those who plan to consume it.
“Your nether regions will not grow, it’s just genetics. Centuries have proven these do not work!”
There is no scientific data to back up the claims made by Eastern medicine followers.
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