Under Thailand's 2003 Wildlife Conservation Act, which came into force on May 19, an amnesty was reportedly proclaimed permitting the keeping of protected animals provided they were acquired before the law came into force.

People raising hornbills, crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, tigers, green peafowls, golden cats and other species came forward to register their animals ahead of a 120-day deadline Tuesday, the Nation newspaper reported.

In northern Phitsanulok province, a hotel owner registered four tigers illegally kept to pose with visitors for photographs, the report said.

One conservation official in northeastern Ubon Ratchathani told the daily the trade was being fed through animals brought in from neighbouring Laos.

"Most of the registered animals in our area were bird species, but there were mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, fish," Prawat Tannamai was quoted as saying.

"Some had been kept for a long time, but some were imported illegally from Laos, where the wildlife trade is legal," he said.

Wildlife poaching is rampant in Thailand and most of Southeast Asia.

Much of the trade however is driven in large measure by the Chinese appetite for exotic dishes and faith in traditional medicines which use ingredients from the animals, rather than a desire for unusual pets.

TERRA.WIRE