Three suspected totoaba poachers were reportedly shot yesterday by Mexican marines following a confrontation over illegal gillnets that had been confiscated. According to local news outlet Fronteras, the governor of the Mexican state of Baja California, Francisco Vega, has confirmed that three people were injured in a shootout between suspected poachers and Mexican marines early […]
Tag: wildlife crime
POLL: Should primates be protected from the exotic pet trade?
Monkeys and other primates, like lemurs and lorises, might not be the most common pets we find in households across the U.S., but the trade widespread and it’s causing both suffering for them, and posing dangers to us. According to the Animal Welfare Institute, it’s conservatively estimated that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of […]
POLL: Should legislation be introduced to protect giraffes before it’s too late?
Giraffes might be one of the most recognizable and beloved species on the planet, but over the past few decades they’ve suffered catastrophic population declines in Africa, which has led to concerns they may disappear forever. Widespread attention was finally drawn to their plight, which has been dubbed a “silent extinction,” in 2016 when the […]
POLL: Is the booming fashion trend for coyote fur ethical?
Colton Morris, 28, knelt on the concrete floor of a warehouse in rural Ohio, carefully combing the fur on a pile of coyote pelts with a wire brush before putting them up for auction. A sunny but chilly morning greeted him and around 150 other buyers and sellers at the event in the small settlement […]
POLL: Should all wolves be stripped of federal protection?
In an incredibly disappointing, but not entirely surprising move, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has announced its intention to strip gray wolves of federal protection in the lower 48, which their advocates fear will be a death sentence for them. Gray wolves have already faced such heavy persecution that we nearly killed every […]
POLL: Is it cruel to set up nets that prevent birds nesting?
A battle broke out at the weekend over a hedge in Lincolnshire. The hedge, near the town of Winterton, was covered in netting by Partner Construction, which has applied for planning permission to build 40 homes on the site. This is standard practice, the developer said, in order to prevent birds from nesting in a […]
POLL: Should the commercial trade in captive-bred tigers be banned?
The first thing that hit the inspectors was the smell. It was a sweltering midsummer day in Prague, and they had just opened an unplugged freezer filled with the rotting remains of tigers, lions and cougars. Pavla Rihova, the lead environmental inspector on the scene, said she had never seen anything like it. “I have […]
POLL: Should the salmon-farming industry be allowed to slaughter seals?
Seals are supposed to be protected under UK law, but salmon farmers can get a special licence that makes it legal for them to shoot and kill these marine animals, who are just trying to feed themselves and their families in order to survive. The shooting continues throughout the animals’ breeding season, which takes place […]
