U.S. authorities say they’ve broken up a conspiracy to traffic shark fins in and out of Florida by a company based in California, where their sale and export is banned by law. In an indictment released Sept. 4 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, prosecutors allege that 12 people took […]
Tag: wildlife trafficking
Bolivia’s jaguar seizures down as suspicions rise over new mafia
In 2016, in the midst of the first investigations into jaguar trafficking in Bolivia, biologist Ángela Núñez received a short audio clip via Whatsapp: “Teeth, tiger”. That was all she could hear and it was enough. The file was sent by an informant close to the Manuripi-Heath Amazon National Wildlife Reserve in Pando who claimed […]
For Brazil’s most trafficked parrot, the poaching is relentless
It’s a natural phenomenon that you could set your calendar by: every August, the turquoise-fronted parrots (Amazona aestiva) of Brazil’s Cerrado biome start laying their eggs. The chicks hatch soon after, and by November have left the nest. The cycle is so constant that every year, for decades, poachers have been stealing eggs and chicks […]
A genetic map hopes to trace rescued chimps back to their homes
Experts estimate that nearly 2,000 chimpanzees may be lost to the wildlife trade each year. Chimpanzees are currently listed as endangered by the IUCN (the western chimpanzee, one of four subspecies, is listed as critically endangered), and their numbers are still declining. While chimpanzee conservation has many components, researchers say genetic studies are an increasingly […]
FOUR PAWS Rescues Two Asiatic Black Bear Cubs From The Illegal Wildlife Trade In Vietnam After Smuggler Tried To Sell Them Online
Global animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS has just rescued two Asiatic black bear cubs that were confiscated by the environmental police in Lai Chau Province at the Vietnam border to China on July 21, 2020. The cubs, a male and a female, are only a few months old. The accused wildlife smuggler was being closely […]
Petition: New Report Show Millions of Species Illegally Trafficked from Brazilian Amazon
Millions birds, tropical fish, turtles, and mammals and large volumes of wildlife products are trafficked domestically and internationally in and from the Brazilian Amazon each year according to a new report from TRAFFIC, a UK-based nonprofit that studies the wildlife trade. Brazil is home to 60% of the Amazon Basin, holds 13% of the world’s […]
Brazilian Amazon drained of millions of wild animals by criminal networks: Report
The Brazilian Amazon is hemorrhaging illegally traded wildlife according to a new report released Monday. Each year, thousands of silver-voiced saffron finches and other songbirds, along with rare macaws and parrots, are captured, trafficked and sold as pets. Some are auctioned as future contestants in songbird contests. Others are exported around the globe. Fish bound […]
Wildlife poaching syndicate sentenced to 56 years imprisonment
Durban – Nine members of one of Southern Africa’s most prolific wildlife trafficking gangs were sentenced to a total 56.5 years behind bars in a Malawian court on Monday. The gang were members of the Lin-Zhang syndicate and were each found guilty of at least one wildlife trafficking offence of a listed or protected species […]