Thailand is sending almost 1,000 highly endangered lemurs and tortoises back to their home in Madagascar, in what both countries called their biggest ever operation against wildlife trafficking.

Thai police found and confiscated 1,117 of the live and dead animals in the southern province of Chumphon in May -- the kingdom's largest ever seizure, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers, who often sell highly-prized endangered creatures on the lucrative black market in China, Vietnam and Taiwan.

The repatriation of the 963 animals -- ring-tailed lemurs, brown lemurs, spider tortoises and radiated tortoises -- is a "significant step" in anti-trafficking operations, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Chalermchai Sri-on said Wednesday.

"For the first time, wildlife is being repatriated prior to the conclusion of legal proceedings," he added.

Lemurs, which starred as loveable supporting characters in the Dreamworks "Madagascar" movies, are found only on the Indian Ocean island, and experts say they are threatened by trafficking into the pet trade.

The furry primates and the tortoises will be sent to special centres once they return to Madagascar, said its environment minister Max Andonirina Fontaine who was in Thailand to oversee the repatriation.

- 'Make a success story' -

Six people were arrested and charged with endangered animal trafficking in May, and could face up to 15 years in prison and be fined 1.5 million baht ($43,000), according to local Thai media.

The four species, which are endemic to Madagascar, are listed as near-extinct or threatened by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"When two countries really collaborate together we can really make a success story," Fontaine told journalists on Wednesday.

Thailand is Southeast Asia's biggest legal importer and exporter of CITES-listed wildlife from Madagascar, according to a report from TRAFFIC, a wildlife NGO.

But according to the 2023 report, illegal trafficking persists and "the true extent is likely to be greater than those reflected by seizure records alone," it says.

Fontaine told AFP it is "difficult" to know the true number of animals smuggled out of Madagascar, but that the increase in seizures reflects improved anti-trafficking efforts.

In 2010, Thai customs authorities seized more than 200 live endangered tortoises being smuggled into the country from Madagascar.

In June this year Thai customs officials arrested six Indian nationals for attempting to smuggle a red panda and 86 other animals out of the kingdom.

AFP

Lemurs, which starred as loveable supporting characters in the Dreamworks 'Madagascar' movies, are found only on the Indian Ocean island © Handout / Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment/AFP

Thailand to return nearly 1,000 trafficked lemurs, tortoises to Madagascar