Tag Archives: wildlife crime
United States sentences Vietnamese rhino traders to 3.5 years in prison
The Judge went easy on two rhino horn traders in the United States yesterday when she sentences one to 42 months and another to 46 month in prison. This was less than the sentences that the US Federal prosecutors called for. The father and son team who were Vietnamese emigrants were also fined and ordered [...]
Elephant campaigner charged with ivory possession
One of the top officials of an elephant campaigning group in Kenya has been charged with illegal possession of ivory after 19Kg of ivory was found in the back of her car. Her son has also been jointly charged. Soila Sayialel is the deputy director of Kenyan campaign group Amboseli Trust for Elephants and was [...]
Wildlife moving from the plate to the cabinet
China has released details about its latest round of raids by police in tackling the illegal wildlife trade in the country. In April 80,000 police took part in an operation which saw over 6,000 markets, dealers and websites raided. Liu Wenshu, a spokeswoman for public security office of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and [...]
Elephant death toll at Dzanga Bai starts to come in
The impact of the incursion of 17 poachers at the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the Central Africa Republic has started to come in now that the area is safe again for rangers to enter. So far 26 elephants bodies have been found at the Dzanga Bai or ‘Village of the Elephants’. On Monday a group [...]
The Dzanga-Ndoki incident, is there a Chinese connection
A couple of days ago the WWF issued an alert over an incursion into the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park by a section of the Seleka rebels from the Central Africa Republic. There are reports that these rebels are working with the Sudanese poachers that plague the area. Now latest reports are coming in that the incursion [...]
Tanzanian opposition calls for poachers to be hung
Tanzanian Leader of the Opposition, Freeman Mbowe, announced in the Parliament yesterday that it’s time to get tough with poachers and that those caught poaching should face the death penalty and be hung. Mbowe was speaking at a debate on the Natural Resources and Tourism budget. He referred to a The Parliamentary Committee on Land, Natural [...]
Rhino horn smugglers go free due to lack of interpreters
South African courts have released two major rhino horn smugglers because the government were unable to provide court interpreters. The two Vietnamese rhino horn smugglers were caught in November 2010 after a routine search at a roadblock. The smugglers were aboard a bus and had 12 rhino horn concealed in their suitcases. Xuan Binh Dang, [...]
Minister calls for shoot to kill policy in Botswana
The Deputy Speaker of the Botswana Parliament, Pono Moatlhodi, has called for the immediate introduction of a shoot to kill policy to tackle poachers targeting rhino and elephants in the country. His call for a new tougher stance against the poachers comes just days after Mozambique declared that the Limpopo National Park lost its last [...]
Chinese fish delicacy behind threat to endangered Californian fish
A Chinese soup which is a delicacy at celebrations and special occasions and is also thought to help with fertility problems and circulation is behind a crisis that is threatening a species of fish found in California and has been listed as endangered since 1979. The fish are the totoaba macdonaldi and they look similar [...]
From rhino horn to smelly feet
A new advertising campaign has been launched in Vietnam by WWF and TRAFFIC to try and dissuade people from using rhino horn as medicine. The campaign highlights that rhino horn is the same material as finger and toe nails. The highly visual campaign will see posters of rhinos whose horns have been replaced with feet [...]
Badger crimes surges in England and Wales over last 5 years
The number of people prosecuted for wildlife crimes against badgers has surged in the last 5 years. Back in 2007 just 30 prosecutions took place while in 2011, the last year figures are available for, the number had increased to 58. The figures were released following a written parliamentary question by Diane Abbott MP. While [...]
1,000 new rangers announced for Kenya Wildife Service
Now the elections are over the government has announced plans to boost the fight against the poachers. In an announcement today Government spokesman, Muthui Kariuki, said Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) would have another 1,000 rangers made available to them. The ranger service would also be modernised with more effective weapons and new training to make [...]
West Africa agrees to multi-national anti-poaching force
A gang of 300 Sudanese elephant poachers have wrecked havoc across west African elephant populations. Now the affected African states are fighting back and have agreed to the formation of a specialist 1,000 strong anti-poaching unit that will cost USD 2.3 million. The 15 west African countries that make up the Economic Community of West [...]
Kaziranga National Park begins promised rhino survey
The promised new census of one-horned rhino – or Indian rhino – at Kaziranga National Park has gotten underway. The census began yesterday and is expected to be completed by tomorrow. The new census was promised last month by the Assam state authorities after a sudden spike in rhino poaching at the park. Sadly the [...]
The night of elephant slaughter in Chad
Chadian government authorities have confirmed that at least 89 elephants were killed in one night – Thursday March 14-15 – near the town of Ganba in southern Chad. The slaughtered elephants included 33 pregnant females and 15 elephant calves. Sources said that the poachers arrived on horseback and were speaking Arabic. It was estimated that [...]
New study reveals scale of persistent illegal Tiger trade
photo credit: TRAFFIC Parts of more than 1400 Tigers have been seized across Asia in the past 13 years, according to TRAFFIC’s latest analysis of confiscations, which includes new data for 2010-2012. Reduced to Skin and Bones Revisited finds that parts of at least 1425 Tigers had been seized across all but one of the [...]
Eight countries to face trade sanctions over ivory trade
Eight countries have been given until next week to submit new management plans to reduce ivory trading or face the prospect of trade sanctions. The countries concerned are Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and China. They must produce more effective plans to control ivory trading both domestically and internationally by next week and [...]
South Africa rhino poaching breaks 100 barrier
Rhino poaching in South Africa has broken the 100 barrier for the year with the latest figures released today by the Department of Environmental Affairs. So far in 2013 102 rhino have been killed by poachers for their horns. In the last week alone 4 rhino were lost in the Kruger National Park and another [...]
2,000 trucks of timber seized in Interpol’s first logging operation
Interpol has just released details of its first international operation against illegal logging operations in Latin America. The operation resulted in the seizure of 2,000 truckloads of illegal timber worth millions of dollars and almost 200 arrests. The operation covered 12 countries in south and central America. The operation named Operation Lead lasted for a [...]
100 wildlife traffickers arrested in Chinese led crackdown
The Chinese State Forestry Administration has released details about a month long multi-national wildlife smuggling operation. The operation called Cobra involved 22 countries across Asia and Africa. Over 100 criminals were arrested and a wide range of wildlife merchandise confiscated. Forest Administration spokesman, vice director Yin Hong, said that this operation – the first wildlife [...]