After years of investigations and appeals, Bach “Boonchai” Mai, the alleged leader of a major international wildlife trafficking ring, has been sentenced to five years in prison by the Thai Supreme Court. Mai was convicted of attempting to smuggle 14 rhino horns into Thailand, but his network, Hydra, has been involved in trafficking ivory, rhino […]
Tag: trafficking
‘Finch-smuggling kingpin’ sentenced to prison for bird trafficking into US
A man who repeatedly admitted scheming to smuggle finches from Guyana into New York for birdsong competitions was sentenced on Thursday to a year and a day in prison. It was Insaf Ali’s second time being sentenced in a Brooklyn federal court for a crime related to bird trafficking, and he vowed it would be […]
Mexico dismantles illegal fishing cartels killing off rare vaquita porpoise
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO — Some of the country’s most ambitious and successful wildlife traffickers are now in jail, officials announced. Mexico’s navy confirmed in a press conference that members of cartels dedicated to the trafficking of totoaba have been arrested and put in prison, effectively dismantling some of the main organized crime groups contributing to […]
Major wins for sharks and other wild animals in key legislative package
There have been some massive wins for animals recently in the U.S., as the Congress acts to pass some protections we’ve been championing for years. Right on the heels of the Big Cat Public Safety Act’s resounding passage, two additional animal protection measures were wrapped into the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes funding levels […]
Mexican sanctuary prepares to re-wild endangered jaguar cubs
OXTOTIPAC, Mexico, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Lying on a shady patch of grass under the hot Mexico sun, Zazil, a female spotted jaguar stretches her limbs. Born in captivity, she is a top candidate to help boost wild populations of this magnificent, endangered species. Reino Animal, a sprawling animal conservation park some 56 kilometres (35 […]
In Nepal, a turtle that rose from the dead makes another grand entrance
KATHMANDU — In 2002, the black softshell turtle was declared extinct in the wild — not a difficult assessment to make, given that, back then, the only known population of the species was in a pond at a Sufi shrine in Bangladesh. It beat that rap when, that same year, researchers found the animals in […]
Mexican Wildlife Trade is Out of Control and Wild Animals are Openly Sold on Social Media
A report from an environmental group said that wild animals are increasingly sold on social media platforms as wildlife trafficking in Mexico increasingly threatens several species. The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity said that the illegal wildlife trade is openly and increasingly selling animals such as toucans, monkeys, bears, and jaguars on social media platforms, […]
Ivory trader in Uganda jailed for life in country’s harshest sentence for the crime
A Ugandan ivory trader has been sentenced to life in prison – the country’s longest ever sentence for the crime. Pascal Ochiba was arrested in January this year in a suburb of the capital Kampala with two pieces of ivory, weighing around 10kg. He was convicted for unlawful possession of protected species, the state-run Uganda […]