KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN authorities have seized more than 7,000 monitor lizards and the carcasses of 13 protected species destined to be sold to restaurants and medicine shops, reports said on Thursday.

Officials from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks came across the huge hoard in two raids, director general Abdul Rasid Samsudin told the state Bernama news agency.

He said the haul included 7,093 clouded monitor lizards, still alive and weighing 35 tonnes, as well as the meat of bears, snakes, owls and porcupines found in a refrigerator.

'Most of these animals are sold to restaurants serving exotic animals as delicacies and some are also used for making traditional medicines,' he said, adding that the live lizards would be released into the wild. -- AFP