Experts at two of Brazil’s leading wildlife conservation bodies are on high alert following a spate of seizures of hyacinth macaws and golden lion tamarins from alleged traffickers in recent years. The illegal wildlife trade was what drove the hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), the world’s biggest flying parrot species, and the golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus […]
Tag: illegal wildlife trade
Petition: Uncovering Vietnam’s illegal wildlife trade
Vietnam’s illegal wildlife trade is threatening numerous species with imminent extinction. One woman — Kate Fox — has made it her mission to expose the truth and fight for survival with her astonishing film, Lawless Lands. Kate Fox is unlike anyone I’ve ever interacted with. Her passion for conservation is infectious and urgent, but there’s […]
Florida Wildlife Authorities Bust Trafficking Ring Smuggling Thousands of Protected Flying Squirrels into South Korea
Seven people have been arrested and charged in a Florida-based flying squirrel trafficking operation after a 19-month investigation that uncovered a global trafficking ring. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) found the poachers deployed 10,000 squirrel traps throughout central Florida, capturing as many as 3,600 flying squirrels, a protected species in the state, […]
From safaris to slaughter: Butchered for valuable horns, rhinos are among the tragic victims in a new poaching epidemic – as Africa’s deserted game reserves lose the tourist millions that protected its wildlife wonders
When Prince Harry was seeking to impress Meghan Markle in the early days of their courtship, he took her on a surprise trip to Botswana, the African country he used to call his ‘second home’. There they celebrated her 36th birthday in a $2,000-a-night deluxe tent at the Meno a Kwena safari camp on the […]
Petition: Fight to Free Boo the Bile Bear Before it’s too Late!
I discovered Boo the bear and his friends whilst on an undercover conservation project in Vietnam. There is nothing quite like experiencing the misery and horror of a bear bile farm first hand to make you fight for change! Since their discovery in 2018 I have been battling for their release. Please watch, comment on […]
In the Horn of Africa, conflict and illegal trade create a ‘cheetah hell’
The 8-week-old cheetah cubs should have been with their mother. Instead, they were penned up in a small village near Erigavo, Somaliland, after a group of nomadic livestock farmers chased the mother away and captured the cubs from a nearby cave. “There were actually three [cubs],” Asma Bileh, a Somaliland veterinarian for the Cheetah Conservation […]
Bolivia’s jaguar seizures down as suspicions rise over new mafia
In 2016, in the midst of the first investigations into jaguar trafficking in Bolivia, biologist Ángela Núñez received a short audio clip via Whatsapp: “Teeth, tiger”. That was all she could hear and it was enough. The file was sent by an informant close to the Manuripi-Heath Amazon National Wildlife Reserve in Pando who claimed […]
Giraffes are vulnerable to extinction. So why won’t America decide on protecting them until 2025?
Since the mid-eighties, giraffes have been on a steady decline. Population numbers have dwindled by 40 per cent, leaving around 68,000 mature adults in the wild. To put it in context, there is reportedly one giraffe for every four African elephants, which themselves are considered a vulnerable species. Despite giraffes’ precarious status, dubbed a “silent […]