Niagara Falls man fined for smuggling leeches in his carry-on luggage

A Niagara Falls man has been fined $15 000 after Canada Border Services discovered a large quantity of live leeches in his carry-on luggage.

On October 17, 2018, Ippolit Bodounov was aboard a flight from Russia to Toronto’s Pearson International airport when Border Services notified the Environment and Climate Change Enforcement Branch about the leeches.

With the help of Dr. Sebastian Kvist, Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Royal Ontario Museum, they identified the leeches as Hirudo verbana, one of only two species of medicinal leech that are subject to regulations aimed at controlling wildlife trade.

Bodounov had not obtained a permit to import medicinal leeches.

On May 24,  Bodounov was charged for the unlawful import of a regulated species and is prohibited from importing, exporting and possessing any CITES-regulated animals for one year.

(Dr. Kvist, Curator identified  the live leeches that were unlawfully imported into Canada. Courtesy of Environment & Climate Change )