![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TE4JBV667TR5EZZ5K2YEBLGJVY.jpg\")
Chris Andrews poses for a photo with confiscated goods, June 4, 2026, at his office in the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Ala. (James Daggett\/Alaska Public Media via AP) <\/p>\nChris Andrews poses for a photo with confiscated goods, June 4, 2026, at his office in the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Ala. (James Daggett\/Alaska Public Media via AP) <\/p>\n
Chris Andrews was working the belt at the Anchorage airport last fall, watching international cargo arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn employee said, \u2018Hey, this box stinks, Chris,\u2019\u201d Andrews recalled.<\/p>\n
The box was labeled \u201ccar parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other stinky boxes came down the belt. When opened, Andrews found they were filled with thousands of shark fins headed to Hong Kong, likely intended for shark fin soup. Eventually, officers confiscated 1,600 pounds of shark fins \u2014 from nearly 17,000 sharks \u2014 around the country. It was a major case, all linked to those first boxes Andrews found in Anchorage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have gotten that shipment if it didn\u2019t stink,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Andrews is a wildlife inspector for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He and his team are in charge of intercepting trafficked wildlife. They enforce international conservation treaties that protect more than 40,000 species and national laws like the Marine Mammal Protection Act.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s weird work, and he loves it.<\/p>\n
They find things every day at airports and docks around Alaska. They\u2019ve intercepted commercial shipments of designer bags made of crocodile or python leather and also ill-advised international souvenirs. Once, Andrews stopped a passenger carrying two taxidermied lizards, each as long as a skateboard. The passenger had walked off a plane carrying a big garbage bag over his shoulder. Andrews said the tails sticking out made him suspicious.<\/p>\n
\u201cI walked up to him. I was like, \u2018Sir, what\u2019s in that bag?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The man didn\u2019t have permits for the protected reptiles, so he had to give them up.<\/p>\n
Live animals are less common, Andrews said. They find those maybe a dozen times a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had some monitor lizards that were smuggled inside speakers,\u201d he said. \u201cThey put them in socks and, like, tried to conceal them inside speakers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of this traffic is driven by people trying to acquire specimens to complete unusual collections, Andrews said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we\u2019re seeing cockroaches, we\u2019re seeing pill bugs, we\u2019re seeing ants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The work is important for the preservation of ecosystems and protected animals, Andrews said. But the day-to-day work is fun for him, too. He never knows what\u2019s going to be in the next box.<\/p>\n
That also makes it terrifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s these spiders out of India that are the size of dinner plates that are really aggressive,\u201d Andrews said. \u201cI hesitate every time I open a box, like, \u2018Please don\u2019t be the one!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding a live animal, Andrews said, creates a challenging, time-sensitive problem: \u201cHow do we keep this thing alive? Is it poisonous? Where does it come from?\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the day they found 400 baby turtles smuggled inside of a pair of snow boots, Andrews said. There were 12 different species.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what they ate,\u201d Andrews said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if they liked heat. I didn\u2019t know if they liked water. I was in here with a terrarium book, just trying to figure out what they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not what he expected when he took a job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He studied forestry in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a wildlife position in Alaska,\u201d Andrews said. \u201cI thought I\u2019d be dealing with, you know, bears and moose. I\u2019ve never dealt with a moose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three decades later, the job still excites him. But his teenagers are bored of the work stories he brings home.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I think, \u2018Oh yeah, they\u2019ll love this one!\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then they\u2019re just, you know, \u2018OK, yeah Dad, another dead monkey or whatever you found.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Andrews said his team can sometimes put confiscated goods to use. A few years ago, the department intercepted 10 electric guitars made of protected Brazilian rosewood. Now those guitars are in the possession of Anchorage School District jazz bands. But it\u2019s often not that easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you do with 50,000 shark fins?\u201d he wondered.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n