Millions birds, tropical fish, turtles, and mammals and large volumes of wildlife products are trafficked domestically and internationally in and from the Brazilian Amazon each year according to a new report from TRAFFIC, a UK-based nonprofit that studies the wildlife trade. Brazil is home to 60% of the Amazon Basin, holds 13% of the world’s […]
Tag: illegal wildlife trade
Brazilian Amazon drained of millions of wild animals by criminal networks: Report
The Brazilian Amazon is hemorrhaging illegally traded wildlife according to a new report released Monday. Each year, thousands of silver-voiced saffron finches and other songbirds, along with rare macaws and parrots, are captured, trafficked and sold as pets. Some are auctioned as future contestants in songbird contests. Others are exported around the globe. Fish bound […]
Wildlife poaching syndicate sentenced to 56 years imprisonment
Durban – Nine members of one of Southern Africa’s most prolific wildlife trafficking gangs were sentenced to a total 56.5 years behind bars in a Malawian court on Monday. The gang were members of the Lin-Zhang syndicate and were each found guilty of at least one wildlife trafficking offence of a listed or protected species […]
Pac-Man: The jaguar hunted for parts in Mexico
Pac-Man walks quickly, wags the tip of his tail, and shows off his fangs while panting. Suddenly he stops and slightly raises his left rear leg. He turns to see Cam walking steadily behind him. The jaguars then appear to lose each other in the Lacandon Jungle. A hidden camera is the only witness to […]
Wildlife traffickers target lion, jaguar and leopard body parts as tiger substitutes
Lion, jaguar and leopard body parts are being increasingly sought as substitutes to tiger products by wildlife traffickers, a major UN report has found, but demand for ivory and rhino horn has shown signs of a sustained fall. Wildlife trafficking continues to pose a major threat to nature, global biodiversity and human health, the UN’s […]
Python skin jackets and elephant leather boots: How wealthy Western nations help drive the global wildlife trade
Three-quarters of new and emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in wildlife. COVID-19, SARS and Ebola all started this way. The COVID-19 global pandemic has drawn new attention to how people think about wild animals, consume them and interact with them, and how those interactions can affect public health. Any activity that puts people in […]
Jaguar poaching has increased more than 200-FOLD in the last five years, driven by demand from Chinese consumers for claws, teeth and bone powder used in medicinal paste
The most prized item taken from jaguars were the teeth, of which more than 2,000 were captured by law enforcement, mostly en route to China where they’re used in jewelry. They also found attempts to smuggle jaguar bones pulverized into a fine powder via powdered milk containers, presumably to be used in a medicinal paste […]
Albanian restaurant serves bear meat in illegal wildlife trade that’s ‘out of control’
A restaurant in Albania is offering diners meat from illegally hunted bears– part of an illicit trade in wildlife that is “out of control” in the country, investigators claim. Researchers said it was the first time they had seen bear meat cooked in Europe, and experts warned that the crude butchering of animals may lead […]