Pangolins have been locally extinct in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province for the last 30 or 40 years, experts say. But now, local conservationists are working to slowly reintroduce these shy, sensitive animals in a world-first effort to reinstate wild populations. The eight species of pangolins together are considered to be one of the most widely […]
Tag: trafficking
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 […]
Sick slaughter of innocent lions bred to die in agony MUST END, says LORD ASHCROFT
A LARGE lion with an impressive dark mane is released into the enclosure and pads slowly past a hunting party without a care in the world. When one of the hunt organisers whistles, it pauses, as if to make itself an even easier target, confirming that, far from being a wild animal, it is entirely […]
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 […]
Six elephants killed in one day by poachers in Ethiopia
Poachers have killed at least six elephants in a single day in Ethiopia, wildlife officials said on Tuesday, the largest such slaughter in memory in the east African nation. The elephants died last week, when they ventured out of the Mago National Park in the far south of Ethiopia to drink water, Ganabul Bulmi, the […]
Petition: How Traditional Chinese Medicine is Contributing to Species Extinction
Traditional Chinese medicine is flourishing at the expense of animals. Many traditional medicines require endangered animals and often runs rampant on rumors of effective treatment. Rhino populations quickly diminished as a rumor about a politician being cured of cancer by a rhino horn. Three species are now extinct thanks to demand for rhino horn. Demand […]
Irish man faces US charges on trafficking rhino horns
A 30-year-old Limerick man has been extradited to the United States to face allegations of trafficking endangered rhino horns. John Slattery, of Old Barrack View, Fairhill, Rathkeale, Co Limerick,was arrested this morning and surrendered to the US Marshall Service at Dublin Airport. The US authorities sought his extradition to face charges of illegal wildlife trafficking […]
South Africa traffics thousands of endangered wild animals to China in ‘corrupt and growing’ trade, investigation finds
South African traders with China are illegally selling thousands of wild animals threatened with extinction and endangered, under the guise of legal exports, according to an investigation. Monkeys have been stolen from the wild, and together with cheetahs, tigers, rhinos, lions and meerkats, they have been trafficked to circuses, theme parks, laboratories, zoos and “safari […]