There are times of spectacular policy myopia – and promoting a revision to the Meat Safety Act by the South African government is surely one of these moments. In late February the government proposed adding over 90 local and non-indigenous species to the list of animals regulated under the Meat Safety Act. Prior to this […]
Tag: illegal trade
Petition: How Traditional Chinese Medicine is Contributing to Species Extinction
Traditional Chinese medicine is flourishing at the expense of animals. Many traditional medicines require endangered animals and often runs rampant on rumors of effective treatment. Rhino populations quickly diminished as a rumor about a politician being cured of cancer by a rhino horn. Three species are now extinct thanks to demand for rhino horn. Demand […]
‘Don’t let your cat outside’: Q&A with author Peter Christie
The statistics capturing the effects that pets have on wildlife are mind-boggling. Cats in the United States alone kill at least 1.3 billion birds and up to 22.3 billion small mammals a year, according to a 2013 study in the journal Nature Communications. Cats and dogs “are now the most abundant carnivores on the planet,” […]
South Africa traffics thousands of endangered wild animals to China in ‘corrupt and growing’ trade, investigation finds
South African traders with China are illegally selling thousands of wild animals threatened with extinction and endangered, under the guise of legal exports, according to an investigation. Monkeys have been stolen from the wild, and together with cheetahs, tigers, rhinos, lions and meerkats, they have been trafficked to circuses, theme parks, laboratories, zoos and “safari […]
U.S. fund that supports Sumatran rhino research faces deep cuts under Trump
The Sumatran rhinoceros — the smallest, hairiest and most endangered of all rhino species — is today only found in Indonesia. But for a quarter century, the remaining few have benefited from a program established by the United States government to support endangered species around the world. The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act, signed into […]
China outrage: How pangolins are ‘force-fed rice to increase price’ on black market
Pangolins, which are often mistaken as reptiles, are actually the only wholly-scaled mammals in the world, with four known species found in Asia and two living in Sub-Saharan Africa. These small, soft animals have been under threat for decades from poachers, as their scales are used in Chinese traditional medicines, leading to some species in […]
Coronavirus outrage: How traders peddle ‘tiger bone, bear bile and rhino horn’ as cure
The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 2.4 million people worldwide since the first cases were announced in early December. Medical experts across the globe are working tirelessly to develop a vaccine that can halt COVID-19 in its tracks. But in China and other southeast Asian countries there have been reports of countless crooks trying to capitalise on the deadly […]
Coronavirus: Putting the spotlight on the global wildlife trade
Conservation experts say the coronavirus pandemic, which likely originated at a market selling wild animals in China, is a watershed moment for curbing the global wildlife trade, which can drive extinction and spread disease. When Adam Peyman walked into a restaurant in Vietnam to order a meal he was shocked to find wild animals, including […]
