In October, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at California’s Otay Mesa border crossing noticed an odd bulge inside a man’s pants. Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, repeatedly claimed the bump was “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. His history of smuggling birds into the U.S. prompted further examination, […]
Tag: wildlife trade
How Pangolins Became the World’s Most Trafficked Mammal
Pangolins, often described as walking artichokes or modern-day dinosaurs, are extraordinary creatures that have roamed the Earth for millions of years. Despite their unique evolutionary adaptations and gentle nature, these remarkable mammals now face an existential crisis. Each year, tens of thousands of pangolins are poached from the wild, pushing all eight species toward extinction. […]
The growing exotic pet trade drives illegal sales online and a push for tighter rules
A growing exotic pet trade has conservationists calling for stronger regulations to protect the reptiles, birds and other animals in the wild that are increasingly showing up for sale on internet marketplaces and becoming popular on social media. The two-week Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is scheduled to […]
10,000 shark fins worth over $11M seized in major wildlife trafficking bust in Peru
U.S. authorities have assisted the Peruvian government in seizing an estimated 10,000 individual shark fins destined for China — one of the largest wildlife trafficking operations in Latin American history. The bust, on Nov. 10 at an industrial port outside of Lima, led to the arrest of three men tied to a transnational criminal network […]
Massive turtle bust in Mexico reveals ‘Wild West’ of wildlife trafficking
In undercover raids carried out in late September, Mexican authorities discovered 2,339 wild-caught turtles crammed into bins in five locations in Jalisco and Baja California states. Along with the live reptiles, they found a massive stash of other illegal wildlife products that are coveted as delicacies in East Asia: 1,569 kilograms (3,459 pounds) of sea […]
Jaguar tracks still stained with blood in Bolivia
On one Saturday in August 2023, news of a jaguar (Panthera onca) death shook the small streets of the Amazonian town of Ixiamas in Bolivia. It was all community members were talking about, after having found the animal’s carcass on the side of a dirt road leading to the community of Santa Fe. The jaguar’s […]
Turkmenistan Joins Global Effort to Protect Wildlife
Turkmenistan will become a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in January 2025. This move makes Turkmenistan the 185th country to join CITES, completing Central Asia’s representation in the treaty aimed at regulating wildlife trade and combating trafficking. Turkmenistan is home to a variety of […]
Vulture poisonings in the Serengeti alarm conservationists
In July this year, conservationists from North Carolina Zoo in the U.S. and the Grumeti Fund in Tanzania went searching for a white-backed vulture in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park that had been tagged a few weeks earlier. Tracking data suggested the bird had died. The team traveled off-road to the southwestern edge of the park, […]