A woman from China attempted to smuggle 29 Eastern Box Turtles

BURLINGTON – A woman from China, who authorities said attempted to smuggle 29 Eastern Box Turtles – which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act – from Vermont into Canada, pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday. Wang Yee Ng, 41, of Hong Kong, admitted she planned to use an inflatable kayak on Wallace Pond in Canaan to paddle into Canada to meet her husband and a companion the morning of June 26, federal court records. The U.S. Border Patrol, which had been monitoring her suspicious movements, intercepted Ng before she could leave the Vermont shoreline outside her rented vacation home in Canaan.