Border officials have stopped a cheetah at London's Heathrow airport due to raising suspicions concerning the animal's absent identity microchip.
The African cheetah was travelling from a South African safari park to Russia when he was seized.
In an attempt to tackle the trade in illegal animals and halt smugglers in their tracks, all endangered animals must be clearly identifiable by a unique marking, which the cheetah lacked.
The cheetah, named Isaac, was one of four cheetahs which landed at the airport. Two female cheetahs were allowed to continue to Russia, while another male was sent back to South Africa.
The UK Border Agency operations at Heathrow have said Isaac will be kept at a UK wildlife park while his case is investigated.
Head of UK Border Agency, Marc Owen, said: 'The illicit trade in animals is a serious contributory factor in the threat of extinction faced by many endangered species, and that is why the rules around moving them are so strict.
'Each animal has to be clearly identifiable by a unique marking, for instance a microchip, to ensure they can be tracked and traced, and to prevent them being sold illegally.
'At this stage we do not know whether this was simply an error or whether there were other reasons for it.'
Transporting endangered animals without microchips is a breach of the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species.
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