The owners of an antiques shop in Manhattan, New York, pleaded guilty on July 26 for trying to sell $4.5 million worth of illegal elephant ivory from a back room. On Thursday, some of that confiscated Manhattan ivory and more will be crushed in Central Park as part of a public event organized by the […]
Tag: traffickers
POLL: Should the illegal rhino horn trade be shut down?
How do you disrupt the illicit rhino horn supply chain from Africa to Asia? That’s the question spurring a new investigation into rhino horn trafficking in China and Vietnam undertaken by the Elephant Action League (EAL), a Los Angeles-based conservation NGO. Rhinos are being decimated by poaching. In South Africa, home to almost 80 percent […]
POLL: Should there be a crackdown on the trafficking of pangolins?
Pangolins have become the most trafficked mammal on earth, and a record-breaking discovery of their scales in Malaysia has raised more concerns about their future. Pangolins, who live in Africa and Asia, are fascinating little creatures. They’re the only mammal on earth covered in true scales. Sadly, even though their scales are made of nothing […]
POLL: Should the trade in captive lions and their bones be stopped?
Conservationists have condemned plans for the skeletons of 800 captive bred lions to be shipped to the Far East for use in traditional medicines. The highly-prized bones would come from South African big cats used for canned hunting as well as captive animals that died naturally or were euthanised. Producers of the film Blood Lions […]
POLL: Should the UAE’s exotic pet ban be adopted by other countries?
Cheetahs sitting in fancy cars. Tigers running on the beach. Lions playing with chew toys. It’s easy to find images on social media of pet owners in Gulf countries flaunting their exotic animals—but in the future there likely won’t be as many posted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The country has banned residents from […]
How wildlife may fare under Trump
What a president will do for wildlife has never been much of a campaign issue. Debates focus on national security, trade, economics, and to a lesser degree in this election cycle, on the environment. Wildlife, however, plays a part in all those concerns. Take, for example, the illegal wildlife trade. It’s a multibillion-dollar business that […]
POLL: Should there be a worldwide ban on the ivory trade?
The UK is putting elephants at risk of extinction through its broken promises on the ivory trade, according to campaigners. Before the last election, the Conservative party pledged to shut down the UK’s domestic ivory market: at the time 30,000 elephants a year were being slaughtered for their tusks. But no action has been taken. […]
POLL: Should the trade in rare lizard species be banned?
Europe has moved to close a loophole that allows wildlife smugglers to trade in several endangered lizard species, after revelations by the Guardian about the scale of the problem. An EU proposal to strictly regulate the trade in arboreal alligator lizards (Abronia), backed by Mexico, will be debated at the Convention on international trade in […]