Animal advocates are celebrating a landmark ruling against wildlife traffickers who were arrested last fall in Indonesia after they were caught in connection with a criminal network trading endangered slow lorises. The operation, which was part of an effort to dismantle an illegal wildlife trafficking network that was using Facebook to sell wildlife, was carried […]
Tag: traffickers
Fang trafficking to China is putting Bolivia’s jaguars in jeopardy
BOLIVIA — A skull rests in the hands of a hunter. It is a jaguar’s skull that has all of its teeth in place, except the four fangs that the jaguar used to sink into the necks of its prey – until Jesús shot him with an old shotgun in the Bolivian Amazon. “For the […]
Coast Guard Rescues Sea Turtle Entangled Amid Bales of Cocaine
A military plane happened to be in the right place at the right time in November when its occupants spotted debris floating in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America. They notified the U.S. Coast Guard. A Coast Guard crew aboard the cutter Thetis dispatched a small boat to sail over to the […]
Why Whistleblowers Are the Answer to Global Wildlife Trafficking
Whistleblowers are the number one source of fraud detection across the world. In fact, whistleblowers are such an incredibly valuable tool in fraud detection, that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) give out millions of dollars in monetary rewards every year through their dedicated whistleblower programs to whistleblowers who […]
POLL: Should African Grey Parrots be protected from illegal trafficking?
African grey parrots are gorgeous birds who are well-known for their incredible intelligence that’s considered to be on the same level as a small child, and for their amazing ability to learn and mimic human speech. Unfortunately, the qualities that make us want them are also causing major problems for them. The demand for African […]
POLL: Should there be a total ban on trade in rhino horn?
September 22 was World Rhino Day. Rhinos were once widespread across Asia and Africa and even in Europe, where they are depicted on cave paintings. Today their situation is precarious. The world population of the northern white rhino now consists of three individuals. Sudan, the last surviving male, is now beyond breeding age. He and […]
Three more rangers killed in a deadly month around the world for wildlife defenders
Three rangers have been killed in separate countries in a deadly month for wildlife defenders. A ranger at Serra da Capivara national park, in Brazil’s north-eastern Piaui region, was killed by hunters on 18 August. Edilson Aparecido dos Santos and two other colleagues were patrolling the park when they were ambushed by a group of […]
These Baby Orangutans Show the Heartbreaking Price of Wildlife Trafficking
We talk a lot about wildlife trafficking and the threat it poses as a broad issue, but we don’t always get to see the direct impact it has on individual animals. This week, the seizure of two baby orangutans who were destined to be pets has offered a heartbreaking glimpse into the real price being […]