An appalling odor led to the discovery of 9,888 live, rare tortoises swarming every room of a two-story home in Madagascar earlier this month.
The island nation's environmental agency was called to the scene to investigate a rancid stench radiating from the house in Toliara, a southwestern coastal town where they found the reptiles crammed in together, unable to move or break free, covered in their own urine and feces.
There were 180 dead shell-donning animals on the property.
"You cannot imagine," the environmental agency's regional head, Soary Randrianjafizanaka told National Geographic. "It was so awful. They had tortoises in the bathroom, in the kitchen, everywhere in the house."
The "they" here are suspected smugglers — two men, and a woman who owns the house — who have been arrested. Randrianjafizanaka said that the individuals were trying to bury some of the deceased tortoises when she and her team arrived.
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