As an eight-year-old growing up in rural Vietnam, Thai Van Nguyen saw something he would never forget: poachers separating a baby pangolin from its mother. “In front of me, I saw the hunters catch and cut open some pangolins in our village,” Nguyen told VICE World News. “It was really sad when I saw one […]
Tag: wildlife trade
Irrigation dams threaten Thailand’s tiger forests, say conservationists
CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A plan to construct seven dams in one of mainland Southeast Asia’s last intact forest systems could cause widespread habitat loss and sever important wildlife corridors, activists warn. The Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai (DPKY) Forest Complex is a vast and biodiverse region that spans six provinces in eastern Thailand. It was declared […]
Chinese special economic zones hotspots for wildlife trafficking, surveys say
SINGAPORE — Special economic zones set up to promote trade between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors are facilitating a black-market trade in wildlife products, according to watchdog group TRAFFIC. Tens of thousands of prohibited wildlife parts and products are being sold across open and unregulated markets in five Southeast Asian countries, with a significant […]
Unregulated by U.S. at home, Facebook boosts wildlife trafficking abroad
In a matter of seconds, anyone can find evidence of wildlife trafficking on Facebook, according to independent researchers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) experts. Even using simple search terms returns thousands of posts that offer wildlife and body parts up for sale. Elephant ivory from Thailand, pangolin scales from Vietnam, and sun bears […]
Canadian Woman Busted for Selling Polar Bear Skulls
A Canadian woman, Vanessa Rondeau, was arrested and charged with the illegal sale and transportation of polar bear skulls to an agent pretending to be a buyer in Buffalo, New York. A statement released by the Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of New York confirmed the incident. The charges carry […]
Bear paws, pangolin scales: Wildlife trade flourishing in Mekong
A new study by TRAFFIC, a group that monitors the illegal trade in wildlife, has found thousands of animal parts and products – from pangolin scales to ivory and bear bile – for sale in five countries in mainland Southeast Asia, underlining the region’s struggle to address wildlife crime and the need to intensify anti-trafficking […]
Wildlife trafficking, like everything else, has gone online during COVID-19
MANILA — When COVID-19 emerged in early 2020 in Southeast Asia, its governments took rapid containment actions: lockdowns, travel restrictions and trade suspensions, alerting the public about the virus. The pandemic has also put illegal or unsustainable wildlife trade under the spotlight due to enhanced restrictions on movement and increasing awareness about the public health […]
New bill seeks to end Hong Kong’s days as an illegal wildlife trade hub
In 2019, Hong Kong customs authorities inspected a cargo ship bound for Vietnam. Hidden beneath slabs of frozen meat were 8.3 metric tons of illegal scales from about 13,800 pangolins, and more than 2.1 metric tons of tusks from about 200 elephants, with a combined value of about $8 million. This was one of the […]