<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" >

	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=animal-welfare&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/animal-welfare/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:18:33 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.5</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Animal Welfare</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/animal-welfare/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
				<item>
					<title>Indonesian zoo corruption case renews scrutiny of animal welfare</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2026 04:18:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01214955/800px-Surabaya_Zoo-520x227.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324730</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An alleged corruption case at Indonesia&#8217;s Surabaya Zoo has renewed scrutiny of how the country&#8217;s wildlife conservation institutions are governed and prompted experts to warn that financial misconduct can have consequences that extend beyond public finances to the welfare of animals entirely dependent on human care. The investigation has also reignited calls for stronger oversight [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An alleged corruption case at Indonesia&#8217;s Surabaya Zoo has renewed scrutiny of how the country&#8217;s wildlife conservation institutions are governed and prompted experts to warn that financial misconduct can have consequences that extend beyond public finances to the welfare of animals entirely dependent on human care. The investigation has also reignited calls for stronger oversight and accountability to ensure conservation institutions protect both public resources and the wildlife entrusted to them. East Java prosecutors named Choirul Anwar a suspect on July 21, 2026, in connection with an alleged corruption case involving the operational budget of Surabaya Zoo between 2016 and 2024. Choirul was previously the president director of the Surabaya Zoo and Wildlife Park Regional Company. A preliminary audit conducted jointly with the East Java representative office of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) estimated state losses at 10.2 billion rupiah ($564,000), of which approximately 7.4 billion rupiah ($409,000) was allegedly diverted for the suspect&#8217;s personal benefit. Prosecutors said the alleged corruption had contributed to a deterioration in the management of Surabaya Zoo in the subsequent years, leading to declining services and facilities, while a number of animals reportedly died due to inadequate care. A 16-year-old tiger died in 2016 in Surabaya Zoo. Image courtesy of Surabaya Zoo. The case has renewed calls from zoo and conservation experts for stronger oversight of conservation institutions, including audits that assess not only financial compliance but also animal welfare outcomes and governance safeguards in hopes of detecting misconduct earlier. “Many people still&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesian-zoo-corruption-case-renews-scrutiny-of-animal-welfare/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324730</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>First global summit held in Indonesia to tackle animal cruelty content</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/first-global-summit-held-in-indonesia-to-tackle-animal-cruelty-content/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/first-global-summit-held-in-indonesia-to-tackle-animal-cruelty-content/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jun 2026 10:02:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Asad Asnawi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay User]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/23095021/monkey-in-a-cage-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321642</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Ethics, Governance, Law, Pets, Regulations, Social Media, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BALI, Indonesia — The booming market for animal abuse content brought dozens of international animal protection organizations to Indonesia in June for the first in-person summit to confront a growing online entertainment industry founded on suffering. The Asia for Animals Coalition (AfA), a network of more than 400 animal welfare and conservation organizations around the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BALI, Indonesia — The booming market for animal abuse content brought dozens of international animal protection organizations to Indonesia in June for the first in-person summit to confront a growing online entertainment industry founded on suffering. The Asia for Animals Coalition (AfA), a network of more than 400 animal welfare and conservation organizations around the world, established the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) in 2020 in response to the spread of animal cruelty online. Afa is the world’s largest network of animal welfare nonprofits. SMACC then organized its first international summit in Bali on June 11 and 12 to gather advocates and experts to plan tangible steps to address online abuse of animals. “Online animal cruelty is spreading at a scale no single organisation, platform or government can solve alone,” Nicola O’Brien, lead coordinator of the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition, said in a statement. Evidence of animal cruelty on digital platforms collected by SMACC. Image courtesy of SMACC. The rise of animal cruelty influencers Animal cruelty influencers, who storyboard, produce, film and edit scenes of anguish and pain for casual viewers and paying subscribers via social media and other content platforms, are on the rise A 2021 SMACC report identified 5,480 videos depicting animal cruelty that had amassed more than 5.3 billion views across platforms. Of the channels that distributed these videos, 17 had more than 1 million subscribers with two of these counting more than 30 million subscribers each. Online cruelty often involves wildlife listed as endangered&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/first-global-summit-held-in-indonesia-to-tackle-animal-cruelty-content/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/first-global-summit-held-in-indonesia-to-tackle-animal-cruelty-content/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321642</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>France to send its last captive orcas to marine park, not sanctuary</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/france-to-send-its-last-captive-orcas-to-marine-park-not-sanctuary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/france-to-send-its-last-captive-orcas-to-marine-park-not-sanctuary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jun 2026 18:23:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Autumn Spanne]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/03141906/Orques-du-Marineland-dAntibes-en-representation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320536</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, France, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The French government recently announced it has greenlit a plan to send its last captive cetaceans — two orcas and 12 dolphins — to zoos and entertainment parks in Spain. These cetaceans live in the Marineland Antibes park on the French Riviera, which closed in 2025. In 2021, France passed a law banning the breeding [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The French government recently announced it has greenlit a plan to send its last captive cetaceans — two orcas and 12 dolphins — to zoos and entertainment parks in Spain. These cetaceans live in the Marineland Antibes park on the French Riviera, which closed in 2025. In 2021, France passed a law banning the breeding and keeping of cetaceans in captivity for entertainment shows, which will come into effect on Dec. 2, 2026. The orcas and dolphins at Marineland were the primary draw for visitors. The two orcas (Orcinus orca), Wikie, aged 25, and her son, Keijo, aged 12, were born at Marineland Antibes on the French Riviera and spent all their lives in concrete tanks and performing in display shows. They will now be moved to Loro Parque, a zoo and entertainment park in Tenerife on the Canary Islands. The dolphins will be split up between two parks in Valencia and Málaga on the Spanish mainland, with plans for some of them to return to France&#8217;s Beauval Zoo, when it’s ready to have them, according to reporting by Le Monde. A court-appointed expert team found in February 2026 that the concrete tanks in which the orcas lived at Marineland Antibes were in advanced structural decline, and if the mammals weren’t moved soon, they would have to be euthanized. “Faced with this emergency, we are acting to avert the worst,” Mathieu Lefèvre, France’s minister delegate for ecological transition, said in a statement, explaining the rationale for the decision. “Loro Parque&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/france-to-send-its-last-captive-orcas-to-marine-park-not-sanctuary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/france-to-send-its-last-captive-orcas-to-marine-park-not-sanctuary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320536</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How much suffering do invasive species cause? Researchers are measuring that</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/how-much-suffering-do-invasive-species-cause-researchers-are-measuring-that/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/how-much-suffering-do-invasive-species-cause-researchers-are-measuring-that/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 May 2026 13:03:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Daniel Shailer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/28112829/Anoplolepis_gracilipes_458690499-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320237</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Galapagos, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Invasive Species, Monitoring, Research, and Threatened species]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Avian vampire flies (Philornis downsi) were not discovered in the Galápagos Islands for almost three decades after they were thought to have arrived from mainland Ecuador in the 1960s. Even then, the first were found by accident. Birgit Fessl, a landbird ecologist, was surveying for native species on the island of Santa Cruz in 1997 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Avian vampire flies (Philornis downsi) were not discovered in the Galápagos Islands for almost three decades after they were thought to have arrived from mainland Ecuador in the 1960s. Even then, the first were found by accident. Birgit Fessl, a landbird ecologist, was surveying for native species on the island of Santa Cruz in 1997 when she reached into the branches of a tree to take down the huge, domed nest of a woodpecker finch. Inside was a surprise. “We found one dying chick, another dead one which just looked sucked dry and 20 large maggots full of blood,” said Fessl, who now leads the Charles Darwin Foundation’s Landbird Conservation program. “I was stunned — the first dead baby in my hands. Then I realized it wasn’t an accident: It was everywhere,” she told Mongabay over a WhatsApp call. Across each of the Galapagos’ human-inhabited islands, vampire flies had already wrought havoc, killing some chicks in nests they infiltrated and leaving others maimed for life. “But it went unseen because people didn’t really know what to look for.” Around the world, more than 37,000 invasive species have been introduced to new environments. Many of these cause suffering, from vampire flies maiming finches to yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) spraying acid at the eyes of shrikes (Laniidae) on Minami-Daitō Island, Japan, and Australian quolls (Dasyurus) bleeding from the nose after eating toxic cane toads (Rhinella marina). But none of these are measured by the current global standard for assessing the impact&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/how-much-suffering-do-invasive-species-cause-researchers-are-measuring-that/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/how-much-suffering-do-invasive-species-cause-researchers-are-measuring-that/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320237</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rise in elephant killings reveals conservation gaps in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2026 05:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/07051318/old-man-elephant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On April 25, 2026, a male elephant suffering from illness died in the hilly district of Rangamati in southeastern Bangladesh. Residents from the remote village where it died hacked away at its legs and trunk, which highlight serious failures by the country’s Forest Department as well as a lack of public awareness and sensitivity towards [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On April 25, 2026, a male elephant suffering from illness died in the hilly district of Rangamati in southeastern Bangladesh. Residents from the remote village where it died hacked away at its legs and trunk, which highlight serious failures by the country’s Forest Department as well as a lack of public awareness and sensitivity towards wildlife protection. The 60-year-old elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) had been injured several months earlier in a conflict with humans and later died while receiving treatment, said A.S.M. Jahir Uddin Akon, a conservator of forests in Bangladesh. Prior to this incident, in March, a 3-month-old baby elephant was found killed by humans in a protected forest in the neighboring Bandarban district. Before that, on Jan. 19, a captive elephant was killed following collision with a train in Sylhet district in northeastern Bangladesh. The mutilated elephant in Langadu sub-district, Rangamati. Image by Samir Mallik. According to the latest data from the forest department, between 2017 and 2025, at least 148 elephants — including resident, non-resident and captive ones — were killed in the country. ‘Resident’ here means those who live in the country’s forests, and ‘non-resident’ refers to those who frequently come in from the neighboring countries, India and Myanmar. The deaths of the three elephants this year have brought the total number to 151. Regarding the rising fatal incidents of elephants despite several conservation initiatives, Akon, who leads the Elephant Conservation Project at the Forest Department, told Mongabay, “We are working to resolve the crisis in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rise-in-elephant-killings-reveals-conservation-gaps-in-bangladesh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Experts caution Nepal’s plan to open doors to private zoos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/experts-caution-nepals-plan-to-open-doors-to-private-zoos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/experts-caution-nepals-plan-to-open-doors-to-private-zoos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Apr 2026 15:17:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Deepak Adhikari]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/30145802/481768235_1086437106855534_3058871533111109011_n-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318492</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Controversial, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal has proposed legalizing private zoos, wildlife rescue centers and hospitals, but experts warn weak safeguards could fuel wildlife capture and undermine conservation efforts. Officials say the move could improve infrastructure and raise awareness, but critics warn it lacks clarity on oversight, enforcement and animal welfare standards. “There are so-called mini zoos in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Nepal has proposed legalizing private zoos, wildlife rescue centers and hospitals, but experts warn weak safeguards could fuel wildlife capture and undermine conservation efforts. Officials say the move could improve infrastructure and raise awareness, but critics warn it lacks clarity on oversight, enforcement and animal welfare standards. “There are so-called mini zoos in Nepal, but many function more like killing centers,” said Dibya Raj Dahal, president of Kathmandu-based NGO Small Mammals Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF). “Small wild animals are captured from the wild and sold to these facilities under the guise of rescue. In reality, it is extraction,” he said, adding that many animals die in captivity. Nepal’s only federal government-recognized and functional zoo, the Central Zoo in Kathmandu, was established in 1932 as a private collection. The zoo, which opened its doors to the public in 1956, was managed by the government until 1995 when it was handed over to the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), a semi-governmental nonprofit. Although different “mini zoos” have been set up in different parts of the country, their legal status has been dubious and their treatment of animals criticized by conservationists. In response, the government had been saying it plans to introduce new guidelines for the establishment and running of different categories of zoos across the country. Dahal said that despite its gaps, the draft was an improvement on the current regulatory vacuum. “It is a positive step, but the draft remains incomplete.” The guidelines also come as the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/experts-caution-nepals-plan-to-open-doors-to-private-zoos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/experts-caution-nepals-plan-to-open-doors-to-private-zoos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318492</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Don Janssen, wildlife veterinarian who argued that caring for animals begins with people</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/don-janssen-wildlife-veterinarian-who-argued-that-caring-for-animals-begins-with-people/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/don-janssen-wildlife-veterinarian-who-argued-that-caring-for-animals-begins-with-people/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Apr 2026 16:38:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/26162755/Don-Janssen-okapi-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Obituary, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a zoo, a crisis often begins before anyone names it as such. An animal stops responding to treatment. A pregnancy fails to progress. A procedure goes as planned but the animal does not recover as expected. The work is technical and uncertain, and the margin for error is narrow. Outcomes depend on biology, timing, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a zoo, a crisis often begins before anyone names it as such. An animal stops responding to treatment. A pregnancy fails to progress. A procedure goes as planned but the animal does not recover as expected. The work is technical and uncertain, and the margin for error is narrow. Outcomes depend on biology, timing, judgment, and factors that are not immediately apparent. Over time, this shapes the people who do the work. Some grow detached; others become more deliberate. What matters is not only what is done for the animal, but how people carry the outcome when it goes against them. Leadership, in such settings, tends to show itself in small ways: who turns up, who listens, and who steadies the room. Don Janssen, a wildlife veterinarian who spent more than three decades at the San Diego Zoo and its Safari Park, came to see his profession in these terms. Early on, he had assumed that liking animals more than people was an advantage. A senior veterinarian corrected him. If you do not learn to work well with people, he was told, you will spend your career in conflict, and the animals will bear the cost. Janssen returned to that lesson often. Janssen trained at the University of California, Davis, graduating in 1978, and went on to build a career that helped shape modern zoological medicine. At San Diego, he rose to become director of veterinary services and later vice-president of animal health. His work ranged from routine clinical&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/don-janssen-wildlife-veterinarian-who-argued-that-caring-for-animals-begins-with-people/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/don-janssen-wildlife-veterinarian-who-argued-that-caring-for-animals-begins-with-people/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Walk for Peace begins in Sri Lanka, activists call for animal rights</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-walk-for-peace-begins-in-sri-lanka-activists-call-for-animal-rights/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-walk-for-peace-begins-in-sri-lanka-activists-call-for-animal-rights/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Apr 2026 01:53:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malaka Rodrigo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/26013737/1-Walk-for-Peace-march-with-Aloka-in-the-front-c-Walk-for-Peace-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318156</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, and Law]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — A group of barefoot Buddhist monks promoting peace, compassion, mindfulness and nonviolence has arrived in Sri Lanka, accompanied by an unlikely figure: a once stray dog named Aloka. The Walk for Peace, organized by 24 Buddhist monks of the Theravada tradition affiliated with a Vipassana meditation center in Texas in the United States [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — A group of barefoot Buddhist monks promoting peace, compassion, mindfulness and nonviolence has arrived in Sri Lanka, accompanied by an unlikely figure: a once stray dog named Aloka. The Walk for Peace, organized by 24 Buddhist monks of the Theravada tradition affiliated with a Vipassana meditation center in Texas in the United States under the guidance of Vietnamese monk Bhikkhu Paññākāra, commenced in October 2025 and gathered momentum across the U.S. before gaining global popularity. Inspired by the teachings of Gautama Buddha and his 45-year walk, the journey aims to spread awareness of loving kindness and compassion in a world increasingly shaped by conflict. Aloka derives her name from Sanskrit, meaning light, and was first encountered by the monks during a 2022 pilgrimage to India. A stray, Aloka began following the monks despite being injured in a road accident and was eventually adopted by the monks. Her early life on the streets, marked by hardship and illness, has since become central to her identity as a symbol of resilience. Bhikkhu Paññākāra, who played a leading role in organizing the Walk for Peace, chose to include Aloka in the journey as both a companion and a living expression of compassion toward all living beings, a core principle of Buddhism. Sri Lanka marks the first international destination for the walk for peace outside the United States, but Aloka’s participation was initially uncertain. The journey from the United States to Sri Lanka typically exceeds 20 hours of air travel and involves&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-walk-for-peace-begins-in-sri-lanka-activists-call-for-animal-rights/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/as-walk-for-peace-begins-in-sri-lanka-activists-call-for-animal-rights/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318156</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Birutė Galdikas, primatologist who spent a lifetime studying &#038; defending orangutans, has died at 79</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Mar 2026 03:21:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/26032516/birute-galdikas-bw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316316</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Obituary, Orangutans, Primates, Reintroductions, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the early 1970s, orangutans occupied an ambiguous place in science. They were known to exist, of course, but remained poorly understood, rarely observed, and difficult to study in the wild. Their forest habitat in Borneo and Sumatra was still vast, though already beginning to change. Logging roads were extending into areas that had long [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the early 1970s, orangutans occupied an ambiguous place in science. They were known to exist, of course, but remained poorly understood, rarely observed, and difficult to study in the wild. Their forest habitat in Borneo and Sumatra was still vast, though already beginning to change. Logging roads were extending into areas that had long resisted access. The outlines of a larger problem were visible, even if its scale was not yet clear. At the same time, a small group of researchers was beginning to reshape how great apes were studied. Fieldwork, rather than captivity, became the preferred approach. Long-term observation replaced short expeditions. The premise was simple but demanding: to understand animals that were hard to find, one had to remain in place long enough for them to become familiar with human presence. Into this setting came a young graduate student with an interest in human evolution and a determination to study orangutans in their natural habitat, despite doubts that such work was feasible. With limited funding and little infrastructure, she established a research station in a remote peat swamp in Indonesian Borneo in 1971. Over time, that station would become one of the longest-running field sites for any wild mammal. Galdikas in the field. Photo courtesy of Orangutan Foundation International (OFI). Birutė Galdikas spent the next five decades working from that base. Her early years were marked less by discovery than by persistence. Finding orangutans could take weeks. Observing them required learning to move through dense forest and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/birute-galdikas-primatologist-who-spent-a-lifetime-studying-defending-orangutans-has-died-at-79/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316316</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Modest controls put on freewheeling squid fleet at South Pacific fisheries meeting</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 14:22:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/12141145/a.-BANNER-Humboldt-squid-%C2%A9Joescience1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315645</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Ocean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Forced labor, Illegal Fishing, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A lower limit on the size of the fleet targeting jumbo flying squid in the South Pacific Ocean, improved controls at ports and the introduction of electronic monitoring systems on board vessels to rein in illegal practices and labor abuses: These were the main outcomes of the 14th meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A lower limit on the size of the fleet targeting jumbo flying squid in the South Pacific Ocean, improved controls at ports and the introduction of electronic monitoring systems on board vessels to rein in illegal practices and labor abuses: These were the main outcomes of the 14th meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), which concluded in Panama on March 6, marking steps toward tighter regulation of fisheries, especially for squid, in the vast swath of ocean the body manages. “It&#8217;s a part of the world&#8217;s largest squid fishery … so it was very positive that attention was being paid to it,” Dave Gershman, a senior officer on international fisheries at the U.S.-based think tank The Pew Charitable Trusts, who attended the meeting as an observer, told Mongabay just minutes after the closure. “But this is only the start of what&#8217;s needed to put in place science-based management.” The SPRFMO annual meeting took place in Panama City March 2-6. The intergovernmental organization includes 17 members (16 countries and the European Union) and was established in 2012 with the aim of ensuring the long-term conservation and better regulation of fishing activities (except for tuna fishing) in the high seas of the South Pacific, an area encompassing about 59 million square kilometers (23 million square miles). The most anticipated decisions at this year’s meeting concerned tightening regulation of the jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas) fishery, following increased fishing activity and signals of declining stock. Decision-makers also took steps&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/modest-controls-put-on-freewheeling-squid-fleet-at-south-pacific-fisheries-meeting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315645</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>China’s Pacific squid fishery rife with labor, fishing abuses: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/chinas-pacific-squid-fishery-rife-with-labor-fishing-abuses-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/chinas-pacific-squid-fishery-rife-with-labor-fishing-abuses-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Mar 2026 15:47:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Francesco De Augustinis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/03141824/39-with-seabird-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315118</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Chile, China, East Asia, Ecuador, Global, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Forced labor, Illegal Fishing, Law, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Saltwater Fish, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Labor abuses including violence, debt bondage and withheld wages and medical care, overfishing, shark finning, marine mammal killings: A new report exposes bad practices and a weak regulatory framework governing the jumbo flying squid fishery in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. The report was launched on Feb. 19, just days before the annual meeting of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Labor abuses including violence, debt bondage and withheld wages and medical care, overfishing, shark finning, marine mammal killings: A new report exposes bad practices and a weak regulatory framework governing the jumbo flying squid fishery in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. The report was launched on Feb. 19, just days before the annual meeting of the commission of the South Pacific Regional Fishery Management Organisation (SPRFMO), the intergovernmental body that manages the fishery. The report drew on interviews with 81 fishers, mainly Indonesian sailors who worked between 2021 and 2025 on 60 Chinese vessels targeting jumbo flying squid (Dosidicus gigas) in the region. “Our interviews revealed that these vessels are engaged in widespread fisheries abuses and labor abuses,” Dominic Thomson, head of the investigation for U.K.-based NGO the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), told Mongabay. Jumbo flying squid, also known as Humboldt squid, are large-bodied animals averaging 50 to 80 centimeters (20 to 31 inches) in length. They concentrate in the South Pacific Ocean, off the coast of South America, where they play a key mid-trophic role in the marine ecosystem, serving both as a predator of smaller species and as prey for sharks, swordfish, sperm whales, dolphins and other marine life. The species is among the most commercially important squid species, accounting for about 30% of global squid landings. The fishery involves South American countries fishing mainly within their exclusive economic zones (EEZs): Ecuador, Chile and Peru. The latter has for decades been the world&#8217;s leading producer. In the last decade,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/chinas-pacific-squid-fishery-rife-with-labor-fishing-abuses-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/chinas-pacific-squid-fishery-rife-with-labor-fishing-abuses-report/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brigitte Bardot, who turned fame into a lifelong fight for animals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/brigitte-bardot-who-turned-fame-into-a-lifelong-fight-for-animals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/brigitte-bardot-who-turned-fame-into-a-lifelong-fight-for-animals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Dec 2025 14:24:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/28142248/brigitte-bardot-getty-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312127</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, European Union, and France]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Celebrities, Green, and Obituary]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the second half of the 20th century, animal protection was often treated in public debate as a minor cause, sentimental at best and unserious at worst. It sat uncomfortably beside politics, economics, and diplomacy, and was rarely allowed to intrude on questions of trade, tradition, or national sovereignty. Those who tried to force it [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the second half of the 20th century, animal protection was often treated in public debate as a minor cause, sentimental at best and unserious at worst. It sat uncomfortably beside politics, economics, and diplomacy, and was rarely allowed to intrude on questions of trade, tradition, or national sovereignty. Those who tried to force it into public debate were usually dismissed as eccentrics or moral scolds. One figure helped shift that balance by refusing to treat animals as a side issue. She did not argue from policy papers or institutional authority. She argued from outrage, persistence, and the leverage of fame, insisting that suffering without a human voice was still suffering, and that wild animals were among the most exposed of all. That figure was Brigitte Bardot. Known first as a film star, she abandoned cinema while still a global celebrity and redirected her public life toward animal advocacy. What distinguished her work was not only its longevity, but its scope. She did not limit her concern to pets or laboratory animals. From the 1960s onward, wildlife became a central focus of her activism. Her most consequential campaigns targeted the commercial seal hunt. Bardot traveled to the ice floes of Canada and later to Arctic regions, confronting hunters and drawing international media attention to the killing of harp seal pups. The imagery was powerful, but she framed the issue in blunt terms. In a statement widely reported by the Associated Press, she said, “Man is an insatiable predator.” The problem,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/brigitte-bardot-who-turned-fame-into-a-lifelong-fight-for-animals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/brigitte-bardot-who-turned-fame-into-a-lifelong-fight-for-animals/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312127</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmental defenders &#038; conservationists who died in 2025</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Dec 2025 02:14:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/21212401/obituaries-2025-2560px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311798</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Welfare, Conservation, Endangered Environmentalists, Environment, Environmental Heroes, Green, Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Murdered Activists, Violence, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I write short obituaries for people who spent their lives protecting parts of the natural world. I work on them in the margins of other responsibilities, yet they have become a constant. In 2025, I produced over 70. The people I write about are often described as conservationists, scientists, activists, or defenders. Those labels are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I write short obituaries for people who spent their lives protecting parts of the natural world. I work on them in the margins of other responsibilities, yet they have become a constant. In 2025, I produced over 70. The people I write about are often described as conservationists, scientists, activists, or defenders. Those labels are accurate, but incomplete. What unites them is not a profession so much as a posture: they stood between something living and the forces wearing it down. They did so for decades, usually without much recognition and often at personal cost. Some of the names will be widely recognized. Others will mean little to most readers. That imbalance is part of the point. Public memory tends to favor visibility over impact, and charisma over endurance. Yet many of the most consequential figures in environmental protection work far from cameras and conferences. They negotiate land boundaries, calm conflicts, train rangers, translate science, or stay when leaving would be easier. Their influence is cumulative, and it rarely lends itself to headlines. Writing about death has a clarifying effect. Obituaries strip away what is temporary. What remains is a record of choices. Again and again, the lives I wrote about this year followed a similar arc: an encounter with a place or species, a long commitment to its survival, and years of persistence within systems that were often indifferent or hostile. Success, where it came, was partial. Failure was common. Quitting was always an option, and usually declined. These&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/environmental-defenders-conservationists-who-died-in-2025/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311798</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Costa Rica&#8217;s ‘shocking’ wildlife crisis: Nation must move to prevent animal electrocution (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/costa-ricas-shocking-wildlife-crisis-nation-must-move-to-prevent-animal-electrocution-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/costa-ricas-shocking-wildlife-crisis-nation-must-move-to-prevent-animal-electrocution-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2025 21:03:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elena Kukovica]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/17203029/elena-2-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311592</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Commentary, Conservation, Development, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Infrastructure, Mammals, Monkeys, Sloths, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rica is world-renowned for its commitment to preserving biodiversity and wildlife. The country’s fervor to protect its ecosystems recently earned it the Earthshot Prize for Protecting and Restoring Nature, a significant international recognition for environmental protection. However, even a country as environmentally conscious as Costa Rica apparently cannot steer clear of the ongoing spread [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rica is world-renowned for its commitment to preserving biodiversity and wildlife. The country’s fervor to protect its ecosystems recently earned it the Earthshot Prize for Protecting and Restoring Nature, a significant international recognition for environmental protection. However, even a country as environmentally conscious as Costa Rica apparently cannot steer clear of the ongoing spread of urbanization and deforestation that threatens local wildlife. As forests and jungles give way to new homes and roads, animals are forced to adapt to their new surroundings and human neighbors. A vast and deadly obstacle in this process is electrical wires and transformers, which cause fatal wildlife electrocutions. This deadly problem is primarily caused by the fact that most of Costa Rica’s electrical infrastructure is installed aerially using conductive materials that lack insulation (e.g., aluminum conductors without protection). Combined with the high voltages carried by these wires, this creates a highly hazardous situation, putting any living being at risk of electrocution when coming into contact. As animals face intrusions into their natural habitats and need to move, they begin using electrical wires like they typically use tree branches, particularly when crossing roads. Combining constant contact with high-voltage power lines, it is therefore not difficult to believe that electrocution is one of the biggest causes of wildlife deaths in Costa Rica. In particular, 6,262 reported cases of wildlife electrocution happened just between June 2022 and June 2023, with the most affected species among mammals being squirrels, foxes, monkeys, kinkajous and sloths. A howler monkey traverses&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/costa-ricas-shocking-wildlife-crisis-nation-must-move-to-prevent-animal-electrocution-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/costa-ricas-shocking-wildlife-crisis-nation-must-move-to-prevent-animal-electrocution-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311592</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Stricter rules adopted to protect sloths from pet trade and selfie tourism</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stricter-rules-adopted-to-protect-sloths-from-pet-trade-and-selfie-tourism/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stricter-rules-adopted-to-protect-sloths-from-pet-trade-and-selfie-tourism/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2025 13:36:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Fernanda Wenzel]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/08190645/1.-Neil-D_Cruze-Manaus-9376-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310800</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Costa Rica, Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Defaunation, Illegal Trade, Pet Trade, Rainforest Destruction, Sloths, Threats To Rainforests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Known for their peaceful appearance and the impression that they&#8217;re always smiling, sloths now have extra protection to prevent their exploitation by a cruel and illegal pet trade. CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, agreed at its recent summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to include two sloth species in a list that imposes stringent requirements for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Known for their peaceful appearance and the impression that they&#8217;re always smiling, sloths now have extra protection to prevent their exploitation by a cruel and illegal pet trade. CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, agreed at its recent summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to include two sloth species in a list that imposes stringent requirements for their international trade. This means that all 185 parties to CITES (184 countries plus the European Union) will be subject to strict rules including a requirement that exporting countries provide studies proving that the transaction will not affect the species’ conservation. The two species newly listed in CITES Appendix II are Linné’s two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus), native to the Amazon, and Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni), which lives in the southern Amazon and parts of Central America. Two-fingered sloths are known to be more aggressive and faster than their three-toed relatives. The proposal to strengthen their protection came from Brazil, Costa Rica and Panama, as a way “to prevent illegal trafficking from increasing and its populations from declining.” According to delegates from the three countries, wildlife traffickers have been tearing the sloths from the forests to be presented as attractions in tourist itineraries through South America; some tourists even buy a baby sloth to take home as a kind of exotic pet. Researchers have recorded instances of this illegal trade in public markets in Iquitos, Peru, and Manaus, Brazil. “Demand for sloth species has increased in recent years, particularly for live animals taken from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stricter-rules-adopted-to-protect-sloths-from-pet-trade-and-selfie-tourism/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/stricter-rules-adopted-to-protect-sloths-from-pet-trade-and-selfie-tourism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310800</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Jean Beasley, who turned her young daughter’s dying wish into a mission to save sea turtles, has died</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/jean-beasley-who-turned-her-young-daughters-dying-wish-into-a-mission-to-save-sea-turtles-has-died/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/jean-beasley-who-turned-her-young-daughters-dying-wish-into-a-mission-to-save-sea-turtles-has-died/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2025 18:43:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/03183312/Jean-Beasley-photo_credit-KEN_BLEVINS_STARNEWS-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310550</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Hope and optimism, Obituary, Oceans, Pollution, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, Turtles And Tortoises, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the beaches of Topsail Island in North Carolina, the sight of a sea turtle crawling ashore has long signaled both urgency and hope. For many years, a woman with a clipboard and a watchful eye was often there to note every track and nest. What brought her there was grief. In 1991 her daughter, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the beaches of Topsail Island in North Carolina, the sight of a sea turtle crawling ashore has long signaled both urgency and hope. For many years, a woman with a clipboard and a watchful eye was often there to note every track and nest. What brought her there was grief. In 1991 her daughter, Karen, died of leukemia at the age of 29. She had made a final request of her mother that was simple and precise: “Do something good for sea turtles.” It was a young woman’s hope that the creatures she had come to love would somehow be cared for. The family had shared many late nights walking those beaches together, looking after nests and guiding hatchlings toward the water. After Karen’s death, Jean Beasley returned to that work not as a hobby but as a promise. She never framed it as sacrifice. “I loved every minute of what I did,” she said late in life. “Whether it was sea turtles or what it might be, I loved every minute of the teaching. I loved every minute of that old rotten building that we were in and trying to look after animals in.” There were challenges, she added, but “who hasn’t liked a good challenge?” Saving a single turtle mattered. But inspiring a child to love the ocean, and act accordingly, could mean saving thousands. Jean Beasley with the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Beach, N.C. releasing a juvenile loggerhead sea turtle&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/jean-beasley-who-turned-her-young-daughters-dying-wish-into-a-mission-to-save-sea-turtles-has-died/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/jean-beasley-who-turned-her-young-daughters-dying-wish-into-a-mission-to-save-sea-turtles-has-died/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310550</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>IUCN upholds long-tailed macaques’ endangered status after complaint</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-upholds-long-tailed-macaques-endangered-status-after-complaint/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-upholds-long-tailed-macaques-endangered-status-after-complaint/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2025 04:50:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/30071210/long-tailed-macaque-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307660</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Monkeys, Pet Trade, Poaching, Population, Primates, Protected Areas, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — The long-tailed macaque will remain on the Red List of the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, despite objections from the biomedical industry arguing the designation hampers research that relies on the primate to test vaccines and drugs. The IUCN escalated the conservation status of the species, Macaca fascicularis, from vulnerable to endangered in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — The long-tailed macaque will remain on the Red List of the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, despite objections from the biomedical industry arguing the designation hampers research that relies on the primate to test vaccines and drugs. The IUCN escalated the conservation status of the species, Macaca fascicularis, from vulnerable to endangered in 2022 after macaques poached from the wild were found to have been laundered into breeding farms in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam supplying laboratories abroad. The National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR), a U.S. lobby group, challenged the listing, but the latest assessment, published Oct. 10, found that wild populations of the macaque had declined by 50-70% over the past three decades. That led the IUCN to reaffirm the species’ endangered listing. “I’m happy to see science prevail, but I’m not happy to see the long-tailed macaques endangered,” Malene Friis Hansen, co-author of the assessment and a leading researcher on the species at Aarhus University in Denmark, told Mongabay by phone. “This is a species of primate that shouldn’t be in this situation — that we’ve pushed such an adaptive synanthrope to this stage should be an eye-opener.” The NABR filed its complaint in 2023, alleging conflicts of interest and scientific errors had influenced the original endangered listing. But last week, the IUCN announced an internal investigation had found no breach of its conflict-of-interest policy. While the IUCN acknowledged that the original assessment contained some “emotive, value-laden language,” it deemed this had no impact on the listing.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-upholds-long-tailed-macaques-endangered-status-after-complaint/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/iucn-upholds-long-tailed-macaques-endangered-status-after-complaint/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307660</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Singapore heats up, pests are seeking refuge indoors</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/as-singapore-heats-up-pests-are-seeking-refuge-indoors/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/as-singapore-heats-up-pests-are-seeking-refuge-indoors/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Oct 2025 07:08:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Robin Hicks]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/09070714/Dorsal_view_of_Papilio_demoleus_Linnaeus_1758_%E2%80%93_Lime_Swallowtail_02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307253</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Welfare, Cities, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Forests, Global Warming, Insects, Pesticides, Rodents, Temperatures, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SINGAPORE — Singapore’s reputation as one of the world’s cleanest cities is being put to the test by a surge in rodent and insect infestations that experts say is being fueled by climate change and heat stress. At Changi Airport, famous for its indoor gardens that embody the “City in Nature” image Singapore markets to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SINGAPORE — Singapore’s reputation as one of the world’s cleanest cities is being put to the test by a surge in rodent and insect infestations that experts say is being fueled by climate change and heat stress. At Changi Airport, famous for its indoor gardens that embody the “City in Nature” image Singapore markets to the world, lush plant displays have been succumbing to disease and insect attacks. In the last two years, swaths of greenery have had to be replaced. It’s a similar story at the iconic floating Apple Store at Marina Bay Sands, where a circle of Chinese banyan trees lines the interior of its glass dome, encircling the latest iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. Last year, the trees had to be replaced because of insect infestations. “The insects are coming inside — to escape the heat,” says Veera Sekaran, a botanist at the National University of Singapore and founder of Greenology, the firm that manages landscaping at both Changi and Apple’s flagship store. “Heat stress doesn’t just affect people.” Biological markers for heat stress Plants grown in artificial indoor environments are already vulnerable to disease. When insects move in to feed on sap or build nests, they become even more susceptible, Sekaran tells Mongabay. “The best biological markers are the little creatures, because their tolerance to extremes is very low,” he tells Mongabay. “This is especially true in the tropics, where temperatures are usually stable. For a butterfly, a 1-degree [Celsius, or 1.8° Fahrenheit] temperature rise is very&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/as-singapore-heats-up-pests-are-seeking-refuge-indoors/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/as-singapore-heats-up-pests-are-seeking-refuge-indoors/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307253</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Octopus farming is a dangerous detour for marine conservation (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/octopus-farming-is-a-dangerous-detour-for-marine-conservation-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/octopus-farming-is-a-dangerous-detour-for-marine-conservation-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2025 18:22:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Giulia Malerbi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/01/31144721/1200px-Octopus_vulgaris_2_1200px-cropped-768x470.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307189</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Intelligence, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Aquaculture, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Ecosystems, Ethics, Fisheries, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Octopus populations across the globe are facing mounting pressures from overfishing, habitat loss and environmental change. In response, an unsubstantiated and misguided proposal has been introduced: farming octopuses in captivity to alleviate wild harvests. In fact, some recently proposed controversial plans claim that closed-cycle octopus farming initiatives aim to reduce fishing pressure on wild octopus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Octopus populations across the globe are facing mounting pressures from overfishing, habitat loss and environmental change. In response, an unsubstantiated and misguided proposal has been introduced: farming octopuses in captivity to alleviate wild harvests. In fact, some recently proposed controversial plans claim that closed-cycle octopus farming initiatives aim to reduce fishing pressure on wild octopus populations by supplying the market through aquaculture, and even go so far as to suggest that these efforts could contribute to restocking wild populations in the future. But beneath the surface of this seemingly logical solution lies a cascade of ecological and ethical concerns demonstrating that industrialized octopus farming would harm both wild octopus populations and the broader environment. Drawing lessons from other forms of previously established industrial aquaculture practices, experts warn that farming octopuses is not only unsustainable — it could accelerate the very collapse it aims to prevent. Farming carnivores actually intensifies overfishing Octopuses are obligate carnivores, meaning they require a diet based on other marine animals, primarily fish. Farming them demands enormous amounts of wild-caught fish to produce feed, a practice that directly undermines marine biodiversity and resilience. Industrial salmon farming also follows this model and has repeatedly shown how feed demand can devastate forage fish populations — as well as the species that rely on them. Common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) illustration by Comingio Merculiano (1896). Image accessed via Wikimedia Commons. Octopuses also have one of the worst feed conversion rates, requiring protein-rich feed made from wild-caught fish, with estimates suggesting  that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/octopus-farming-is-a-dangerous-detour-for-marine-conservation-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/octopus-farming-is-a-dangerous-detour-for-marine-conservation-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307189</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protein for a crowded planet: An interview with the Good Food Institute&#8217;s Nigel Sizer</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2025 18:24:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/02204816/CC-BY_Ivy-Farm_Tacos_credit-Ivy-Farm-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306757</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative proteins, Animal Welfare, Climate Change, Consumption, Environment, Food, food security, Green, Interviews, Livestock, and Meat]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades Nigel Sizer has orbited the front lines of environmental policy. His résumé spans forest conservation in Amazonia, the launch of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute, and campaigns on human rights, climate change, and even pandemic preparedness. The arc of that career has led him to an unglamorous [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For more than three decades Nigel Sizer has orbited the front lines of environmental policy. His résumé spans forest conservation in Amazonia, the launch of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute, and campaigns on human rights, climate change, and even pandemic preparedness. The arc of that career has led him to an unglamorous but decisive arena: what the world eats. “While our food system is a major driver of many crises, it also has huge potential to be part of the solution,” he says. The way meat is produced touches national security, biodiversity, public health, and the climate all at once. Sizer has just taken the helm at the Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit dedicated to speeding the shift from conventional animal protein to plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat. He sees the role as “a chance to work at the root-cause level of the exact challenges I’ve spent my life tackling.” If alternative proteins become mainstream, he argues, they can relieve pressure on forests, protect wildlife, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and improve resilience to global health shocks. His past posts have prepared him for a job built on coalition building. Whether designing satellite-driven tools to monitor forests or mobilizing resources for restoration, Sizer has specialized in convening disparate actors around common goals. GFI’s work, he notes, will require the same skills: international collaboration, new partnerships, and a diversity of approaches across regions to transform how the world produces protein. “Scaling impact and unlocking critical resources,” he says,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/protein-for-a-crowded-planet-an-interview-with-the-good-food-institutes-nigel-sizer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306757</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How to carry Jane Goodall’s light forward</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-carry-jane-goodalls-light-forward/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-carry-jane-goodalls-light-forward/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2025 12:23:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/02121556/jane-goodall-7-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306966</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Founder's briefs]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Heroes, and Jane Goodall]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[I find it hard to believe Jane Goodall is gone. She was more than an icon to me. She was a friend, a mentor, and someone whose presence—whether with presidents, students, or my own children—felt like both a gift and a lesson. Our friendship began in the most Jane way possible: an email that opened, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[I find it hard to believe Jane Goodall is gone. She was more than an icon to me. She was a friend, a mentor, and someone whose presence—whether with presidents, students, or my own children—felt like both a gift and a lesson. Our friendship began in the most Jane way possible: an email that opened, “Yes, this is the real Jane Goodall,” followed by a request that I not share her “secret email address.” She said she admired Mongabay and wanted to meet. That message was the start of thirteen years of laughs, tears, and conversations that often stretched late into the night over vegan Indian food and a glass of whisky in her hotel room—even though I rarely drink or stay out late. Jane Goodall. Photo courtesy of JGI Jane had a way of making every encounter feel personal. When she first met my children, she lit up as if she had been waiting her whole life for them to enter the room. She crouched to their level, told stories, and pulled up YouTube videos of rats performing clever tricks. “Aren’t they marvelous?” she said, with the same awe she once expressed for the chimpanzees of Gombe. She told my son he was an inspiration for starting a trash cleanup at his school. It was a small thing, but Jane noticed. She always noticed. She believed hope was not simply a feeling but a tool. Hope, she would tell me, creates agency. The larger the crisis, the more powerless people feel. But small,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-carry-jane-goodalls-light-forward/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/how-to-carry-jane-goodalls-light-forward/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306966</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh cracks down on illegal wildlife captivity — but what happens after?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bangladesh-cracks-down-on-illegal-wildlife-captivity-but-what-happens-after/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bangladesh-cracks-down-on-illegal-wildlife-captivity-but-what-happens-after/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2025 13:29:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu SiddiqueSadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/06131358/rescued-wildlife-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298682</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last month, 48 animals — including endangered species like Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus), lesser adjutant storks (Leptoptilos javanicus) and Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) — were found to be kept captive, all in a debilitated condition, at an illegally established mini zoo in Mymensingh in north-central Bangladesh. On April 8, the Forest Department’s Wildlife [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Last month, 48 animals — including endangered species like Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus), lesser adjutant storks (Leptoptilos javanicus) and Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) — were found to be kept captive, all in a debilitated condition, at an illegally established mini zoo in Mymensingh in north-central Bangladesh. On April 8, the Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) team and a few local volunteers, led by wildlife inspector Nargis Sultana, rescued the animals from the mini zoo, located about 124 kilometers (77 miles) north of Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka. Nargis briefed Mongabay on the condition in which she found the captive animals. One of the bears, she said, suffered from severe injuries while the other animals were served rotten feed, and their accommodations were uncomfortably congested. “Those animals, suspected to be collected from poachers, were [brought to] the menagerie more than a decade ago when they were young. They have grown up, but their cages were never [changed to larger ones],” Nargis told Mongabay. Since its inception in 2012, the WCCU has stepped up efforts to rescue wildlife from poachers and traffickers, backed by the Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Law and aided by committed forest officials and volunteers. Corrupt political influence had long shielded illegal menageries in Bangladesh, but the situation has changed after the fall of the authoritarian regime in August 2024. Since then, the Forest Department has rescued wildlife by busting several illegal menageries in districts far from their natural habitats. While wildlife conservationists commend WCCU&#8217;s rescue&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bangladesh-cracks-down-on-illegal-wildlife-captivity-but-what-happens-after/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/bangladesh-cracks-down-on-illegal-wildlife-captivity-but-what-happens-after/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298682</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Data discrepancies suggest Laos monkey smuggling persists, despite trade ban</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/data-discrepancies-suggest-laos-monkey-smuggling-persists-despite-trade-ban/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/data-discrepancies-suggest-laos-monkey-smuggling-persists-despite-trade-ban/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Apr 2025 03:26:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/23023516/Sookvannaseng-4-supplied-by-source-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298028</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Medicine, Monkeys, Poaching, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rangers, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — A new report published on Feb. 18 detailed widespread discrepancies in data provided from Southeast Asia’s long-tailed macaque breeding farms, highlighting how monkey trafficking is able to slip through the regulatory cracks put in place by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Although the report was published [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — A new report published on Feb. 18 detailed widespread discrepancies in data provided from Southeast Asia’s long-tailed macaque breeding farms, highlighting how monkey trafficking is able to slip through the regulatory cracks put in place by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Although the report was published anonymously by Sandy River Research, the data it draws from are referenced and largely available to the public across disparate sources. Mongabay has not been able to independently verify the identity of the authors, and Sandy River Research’s website states it will not be commenting further on the report. The report’s findings paint a bleak picture for endangered long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) that appear to be poached from the wild across the Mekong region before being laundered into breeding farms across Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. From here, the monkeys are kept in often grim conditions before being exported to biomedical research laboratories, primarily in Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan and South Korea. These laboratories purchase macaques at scale, often for tens of thousands of dollars per head, while poachers across Southeast Asia scrape together a living plucking the monkeys from the wild. All of this, the biomedical research industry says, is necessary to develop life-saving drugs, despite existing and in-development alternatives such biosimulations, computational models, diagnostic imaging and organ-on-a-chip technology — artificial systems that function in the same way as human tissue or organs. Over the past two decades, multiple institutions have called into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/data-discrepancies-suggest-laos-monkey-smuggling-persists-despite-trade-ban/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/data-discrepancies-suggest-laos-monkey-smuggling-persists-despite-trade-ban/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298028</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report alleges criminality in Cambodian, Vietnamese monkey trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2025 02:13:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/21013607/VN-shipment-1-supplied-by-Animal-Rights-BE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297860</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Forest, Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Diseases, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Environmental Policy, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Medicine, Monkeys, Poaching, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Many long-tailed macaques imported into the United States from Southeast Asia were likely poached from the wild and then sold as captive-bred to medical research institutions, a recent report alleges. The 137-page report by Sandy River Research details “biologically impossible” birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities across Southeast Asia. It highlights contradictory claims made by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Many long-tailed macaques imported into the United States from Southeast Asia were likely poached from the wild and then sold as captive-bred to medical research institutions, a recent report alleges. The 137-page report by Sandy River Research details “biologically impossible” birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities across Southeast Asia. It highlights contradictory claims made by these facilities about their capacities and uses calculations based on publicly available data regarding the export of monkeys, suggesting that wild monkeys are being caught, laundered at scale through the Mekong region’s breeding facilities, and then sold as captive-bred monkeys, mostly to U.S.-based researchers. The report goes on to note how regulatory failures and a lack of due diligence has ensured that poachers, smugglers, breeding facilities and the biomedical research industry have found ways to profit at the expense of endangered long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The public health risks of wild-caught monkeys being shipped around the world not only heighten the risk of zoonotic diseases spreading, but also jeopardize the scientific integrity of any research based on the study of wild monkeys, the report added. The “unabated” poaching of long-tailed macaques across Southeast Asia has seen populations plummet, with multiple studies pointing to the demand created by the biomedical research industry as a key driver in the species’ decline in some Southeast Asian countries. Inspections at Brussels Airport found long-tailed macaques exported from Vietnam. Image supplied by Animal Rights BE. The report doesn’t list an author and Sandy River Research states on its website that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297860</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Peruvian cockfighters could tip the scales for endangered sawfish</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-peruvian-cockfighters-could-tip-the-scales-for-endangered-sawfish/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-peruvian-cockfighters-could-tip-the-scales-for-endangered-sawfish/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Mar 2025 08:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sierra Garcia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/03/24122338/peru-cockfight-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=296327</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, Peru, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Illegal Fishing, Illegal Trade, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Martín Maceda can still rattle off the exact date of his most memorable fishing encounter. On March 1, 2014, he was 8 kilometers (5 miles) off the north coast of Peru, hauling in the catch like he had every day for decades, when he saw a colossal sharklike creature trapped in the net. He quickly [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Martín Maceda can still rattle off the exact date of his most memorable fishing encounter. On March 1, 2014, he was 8 kilometers (5 miles) off the north coast of Peru, hauling in the catch like he had every day for decades, when he saw a colossal sharklike creature trapped in the net. He quickly realized it wasn’t a shark, swordfish or any animal he’d ever encountered before. “I’m 57 years old and have been fishing since I was 12, and I’d always heard of pez sierra [sawfish] and that, before, there used to be a lot of them,” the artisanal fisher recalled. “I had only ever seen photos in books until that day.” The largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis) that Maceda and his crewmates had accidentally ensnared was nearly 5 meters (16 feet) from the tail to the tip of its chainsaw-shaped snout. The boat’s owner planned to keep the “tooth”-studded beak as a relic. But when the boat’s motor broke and cash was in short supply, he soon sold the sawfish’s namesake feature to cockfighters, who would fashion the teeth into sharp spurs for roosters to wield in fights. To outsiders, roosters battling for sport with fish parts strapped to their ankles may sound surprising, even outlandish. But in the decade since Maceda encountered the largetooth sawfish, advocates for the species have increasingly realized that cockfighting plays a role in preventing or hastening its demise in Peru. (Left) A crowd gathered on the beach in the town of Caleta&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-peruvian-cockfighters-could-tip-the-scales-for-endangered-sawfish/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/how-peruvian-cockfighters-could-tip-the-scales-for-endangered-sawfish/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-296327</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wave of arrests as Madagascar shuts down tortoise trafficking network</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/wave-of-arrests-as-madagascar-shuts-down-tortoise-trafficking-network/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/wave-of-arrests-as-madagascar-shuts-down-tortoise-trafficking-network/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Feb 2025 11:49:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rivonala Razafison]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/17114018/image-19583610710_385115e288_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294534</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Madagascar, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Pet Trade, Reptiles, Social Justice, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — Authorities in Madagascar have arrested 19 people on suspicion of trafficking tortoises, part of intensifying efforts in the country to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade. The arrests during the week of Jan. 20 stemmed from the December 2024 apprehension of a Tanzanian national found to be transporting 800 tortoises in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ANTANANARIVO — Authorities in Madagascar have arrested 19 people on suspicion of trafficking tortoises, part of intensifying efforts in the country to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade. The arrests during the week of Jan. 20 stemmed from the December 2024 apprehension of a Tanzanian national found to be transporting 800 tortoises in the northwestern coastal town of Mahajanga. This arrest prompted a major investigation in regions all around the country, including the capital, Antananarivo. Thirteen men, including the Tanzanian, Joseph Yonas Linonoka, and six women are being held in Antananarivo, according to a Jan. 25 Facebook post from the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD). “Thanks to international cooperation, four Chinese smuggling accomplices have also been arrested in Tanzania,” the post read. A radiated tortoise at the Antsokay Arboretum, Toliara, Madagascar. Image by Bernard Dupont via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). The foiled trafficking operation had targeted more than 2,700 tortoises native to Madagascar, MEDD officials said. According to information provided by the ministry, the network links poachers who capture the tortoises from the wild habitat, with others who take care of temporary storage and local transport of the animals. Other intermediaries are then responsible for arranging for their export. On Jan. 14, three Chinese citizens bound for Shanghai via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were arrested at Antananarivo airport with 105 baby radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) in their suitcases. That same day, ministry officials seized 134 tortoises from three other foreign nationals at the airport in a separate&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/wave-of-arrests-as-madagascar-shuts-down-tortoise-trafficking-network/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/wave-of-arrests-as-madagascar-shuts-down-tortoise-trafficking-network/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294534</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>CITES rejects proposed suspension of Cambodian monkey exports</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/cites-rejects-proposed-suspension-of-cambodian-monkey-exports/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/cites-rejects-proposed-suspension-of-cambodian-monkey-exports/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2025 09:50:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/18065718/Battambang-LTMs-2020-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294219</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and Switzerland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Monkeys, Poaching, Primates, Protected Areas, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Exports of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia will remain legal pending further review, despite recommendations for a suspension to prevent poaching of the critically endangered monkey from the wild. The proposed suspension had been raised at last week’s meeting in Geneva of the Standing Committee of CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade. It called [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Exports of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia will remain legal pending further review, despite recommendations for a suspension to prevent poaching of the critically endangered monkey from the wild. The proposed suspension had been raised at last week’s meeting in Geneva of the Standing Committee of CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade. It called on Cambodian authorities to provide more proof that wild-caught macaques (Macaca fascicularis) weren’t being sold as captive-bred animals, casting doubt on official data ostensibly showing that the country’s macaque exports were being supplied by breeding centers. But delegates to the meeting on Feb. 4 agreed to grant Cambodian wildlife officials until November 2025 to host inspections from CITES, produce logbooks for captive-bred monkeys, and submit more data regarding the birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities. Chheang Dany, deputy director of Cambodia’s Forestry Administration, said at the CITES meeting that Cambodia strongly objected to the recommendation that trade be suspended. He said “Cambodia already provided clarification” on data surrounding birth rates that CITES experts and conservationists had said were too high to be realistic. Dany also said data surrounding long-tailed macaque birth rates provided to CITES without Cambodia’s consent. Reporters visited a long-tailed macaque breeding facility in Pursat province. The farm is owned by Vanny Bio, one of the companies indicted by U.S. federal prosecutors. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had spent five years investigating alleged monkey laundering in Cambodia — the practice of wild-caught monkeys being passed off as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/cites-rejects-proposed-suspension-of-cambodian-monkey-exports/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/cites-rejects-proposed-suspension-of-cambodian-monkey-exports/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294219</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly 20,000 animals seized in global wildlife trafficking crackdown</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/nearly-20000-animals-seized-in-global-wildlife-trafficking-crackdown/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/nearly-20000-animals-seized-in-global-wildlife-trafficking-crackdown/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2025 09:54:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Daniel]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/10065544/Lion-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294154</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Organized Crime, Reptiles, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Big cats, birds, primates and pangolins were among the nearly 20,000 threatened or protected animals rescued in a recent global operation against wildlife and forestry traffickers. Led by Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO), the campaign, called Operation Thunder 2024, involved police, customs, border patrol, forestry and wildlife officials from 138 countries and regions. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Big cats, birds, primates and pangolins were among the nearly 20,000 threatened or protected animals rescued in a recent global operation against wildlife and forestry traffickers. Led by Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO), the campaign, called Operation Thunder 2024, involved police, customs, border patrol, forestry and wildlife officials from 138 countries and regions. Six transnational criminal networks suspected of trafficking animals and plants protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) were identified, with 365 arrests made, the agencies announced on Feb. 4. The live animals seized were 12,427 birds, 5,877 turtles, 1,731 other reptiles, 33 primates, 18 big cats and 12 pangolins. Significant seizures included 6,500 songbirds discovered in Turkey during a vehicle inspection at the Syrian border, and 5,193 red-eared ornamental slider turtles hidden in passenger suitcases arriving from Malaysia at India’s Chennai International Airport. U.S. authorities discovered 1 metric ton of sea cucumbers, considered a delicacy, smuggled from Nicaragua. Australia and the U.K. reported seizures of bear bile, an ingredient in traditional medicine that’s collected using a tube or catheter inserted into the animal’s gallbladder. Such species are trafficked to meet market demands for food, supposed health benefits, pets or “luxury” items, according to Interpol and the WCO. “Organized crime networks are profiting from the demand for rare plants and animals, exploiting nature to fuel human greed,” said Interpol secretary-general Valdecy Urquiza. “This has far-reaching consequences: it drives biodiversity loss, destroys communities, contributes to climate change and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/nearly-20000-animals-seized-in-global-wildlife-trafficking-crackdown/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/nearly-20000-animals-seized-in-global-wildlife-trafficking-crackdown/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294154</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report reveals staggering levels of wildlife trafficking in Hispanic America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Feb 2025 13:18:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/07121009/Yucatan_black_howler_Alouatta_pigra_with_baby_Peten-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294106</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Freshwater, Illegal Trade, Poaching, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[From the glacial fjords of Chilean Patagonia to the beaches and mountains of Baja California, Hispanic America, representing Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean, is a biodiversity treasure trove. These include colorful macaws, showy iguanas, gaudy poison frogs and charismatic cats — animals so beautiful that people want to own them [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[From the glacial fjords of Chilean Patagonia to the beaches and mountains of Baja California, Hispanic America, representing Spanish-speaking countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean, is a biodiversity treasure trove. These include colorful macaws, showy iguanas, gaudy poison frogs and charismatic cats — animals so beautiful that people want to own them as pets. A recent report throws light on what this desire for exotic pets means for biodiversity in Hispanic America, where wildlife numbers are already nosediving due to large-scale deforestation and planned infrastructure projects. The report, published by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), examines seizure and poaching incidents in Hispanic America over a six-year period and provides the first region-wide analysis of illegal wildlife trafficking, a key contributor to biodiversity loss. Most of the trafficked animals supplied the global demand for wild pets. With detailed analyses of wildlife crimes in 18 countries, the report gives a “whole picture” of the region,” says Polen Cisneros, project manager for the wildlife crime program at IFAW. “My idea was to have the first report that had all the baseline information, which people can easily access online and read about it, so we are more informed of what&#8217;s actually happening in the region.” Green iguanas (Iguana iguana), trafficked for the exotic pet trade, are the most seized lizards in Hispanic America. In countries like Thailand, they have become an invasive species. Image credits: Aatu Dorochenko &#8211; CC BY-SA 4.0. Cisneros and her team scoured through media reports,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/report-reveals-staggering-levels-of-wildlife-trafficking-in-hispanic-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294106</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal trade is pushing Bangladesh’s freshwater turtles to the brink</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Feb 2025 09:00:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/03084617/1-Seized-live-turtles-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293771</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Freshwater, Herps, Illegal Trade, Poaching, Reptiles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 28, 2024, wildlife inspectors from Bangladesh’s Forest Department, following a tip-off, intercepted an intercity bus in Dhaka. They discovered two crates full of live turtles in the luggage compartment. The bus operators stated that the consignment was destined for Sherpur in the northern district of Bogura, approximately 270 kilometers (168 miles) from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 28, 2024, wildlife inspectors from Bangladesh’s Forest Department, following a tip-off, intercepted an intercity bus in Dhaka. They discovered two crates full of live turtles in the luggage compartment. The bus operators stated that the consignment was destined for Sherpur in the northern district of Bogura, approximately 270 kilometers (168 miles) from the Comilla Highway (N114), where it was loaded. “Every day, similar consignments are transported along this route,” said Siddikul Islam, the bus driver. Following the raid, on Dec. 30, the wildlife inspectors tracked down a temporary turtle storage warehouse in a wet market in Chandpur, a riverine district neighboring Comilla. There, they reportedly confiscated 1,300 live freshwater turtles, together weighing 280 kilograms (617 pounds). All three species they found — the Indian roofed turtle (Pangshura tecta), the Indian eyed turtle (Morenia petersi) and the Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata) — are protected species under Bangladesh’s Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Act, 2012. Earlier, on Dec. 10, the Forest Department had raided another temporary storage warehouse in Chandpur and seized 800 kg (1764 lbs.) of turtles belonging to the same three freshwater species. Sanaullah Patwary, director of the Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU), said he was gravely concerned. He told Mongabay that the confiscation of such large quantities of smuggled turtles within just 20 days indicates an alarming expansion of the illegal turtle trade in Bangladesh. Despite a ban on turtle trading in the country since 1998, the hunting and smuggling of freshwater turtles have persisted,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/illegal-trade-is-pushing-bangladeshs-freshwater-turtles-to-the-brink/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293771</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal cockfighting threatens endangered sea turtles across Central America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2024 18:05:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tina Deines]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/04/06112525/hawksbill-sea-turtle-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291591</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Costa Rica, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Law Enforcement, Marine, Sea Turtles, Turtles, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cockfighting has been illegal in Costa Rica for more than a century, but this violent tradition persists underground across the country. To make the birds deadlier, their owners often tie razor-sharp blades to their legs, known as gaffs or cockspurs. Aside from the roosters, which get seriously injured or killed during fights, another species has [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cockfighting has been illegal in Costa Rica for more than a century, but this violent tradition persists underground across the country. To make the birds deadlier, their owners often tie razor-sharp blades to their legs, known as gaffs or cockspurs. Aside from the roosters, which get seriously injured or killed during fights, another species has become an unlikely victim of the cockspur trade: the hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), a critically endangered species whose shell is often used to make these deadly implements. Hawksbills have long been targeted for their black-and-brown mottled shells, used in jewelry, combs and other decorations going back to ancient Rome. The species was also historically hunted for its meat as far back as the fifth century B.C.E. in China. Maike Heidemeyer, a Costa Rica-based marine biologist and head of biodiversity and community for the nonprofit conservation group Natural Capital Reserve, first noticed tortoiseshell spurs at holiday markets about two decades ago after moving to the country from Germany. The spurs were openly displayed, mixed in with other hawksbill-shell products like bracelets and trinkets. Though she says these types of bold exhibitions of hawksbill products have tapered off in recent years, demand remains, despite the nationwide ban on cockfighting. The critically endangered hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) are found in tropical and subtropical waters in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans where they prefer coral reefs. Image by Kanenori via Pixabay. “There are associations, groups that openly defend their right to fight cocks, even in Costa Rica,” says&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/illegal-cockfighting-threatens-endangered-sea-turtles-across-central-america/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291591</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Orangutan conservation and communication: Gary Shapiro’s half-century journey from zoos to the wilds of Borneo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/orangutan-conservation-and-communication-gary-shapiros-half-century-journey-from-zoos-to-the-wilds-of-borneo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/orangutan-conservation-and-communication-gary-shapiros-half-century-journey-from-zoos-to-the-wilds-of-borneo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Oct 2024 16:19:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Rhett Ayers Butler]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/10/06211346/Gary-and-Rinnie-Brindamour-header-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=288231</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Nature conservation Influencers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Apes, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Great Apes, Green, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Mammals, Orangutans, Palm Oil, Primates, Rainforest Destruction, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Orangutans have long captured the human imagination, their expressive eyes and human-like behaviors drawing parallels with our own species. Yet few individuals have had the opportunity to dive as deeply into the minds and lives of these great apes as Gary L. Shapiro.  A pioneer in primate communication, Dr. Shapiro’s work spans five decades, encompassing [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Orangutans have long captured the human imagination, their expressive eyes and human-like behaviors drawing parallels with our own species. Yet few individuals have had the opportunity to dive as deeply into the minds and lives of these great apes as Gary L. Shapiro.  A pioneer in primate communication, Dr. Shapiro’s work spans five decades, encompassing not only groundbreaking studies in orangutan cognition but also a lifelong commitment to their conservation. Now, as his book Out of the Cage: My Half Century Journey from Curiosity to Concern for Indonesia&#8217;s “Persons of the Forest” prepares to hit the shelves, Shapiro reflects on the unique journey that brought him from the academic study of animal behavior to the jungles of Borneo, where he lived among and communicated with ex-captive orangutans. Shapiro’s foray into the world of orangutan communication was almost serendipitous. As a graduate student in the 1970s, he was inspired by the pioneering work of Drs. Allen and Beatrix Gardner, who had famously taught a chimpanzee to use American Sign Language. Shapiro soon found himself at Fresno City Zoo, where a juvenile orangutan named Aazk became the first of her kind to be taught an artificial symbolic language. This initial research planted the seeds of what would become Shapiro’s lifelong fascination with orangutan cognition and communication, leading him to a remote part of Indonesian Borneo in the late 1970s, where he conducted the first study of sign language in great apes living in their natural environment. Ex-captive orangutans at Camp Leakey in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/orangutan-conservation-and-communication-gary-shapiros-half-century-journey-from-zoos-to-the-wilds-of-borneo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/10/orangutan-conservation-and-communication-gary-shapiros-half-century-journey-from-zoos-to-the-wilds-of-borneo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-288231</doi>				</item>
			</channel>
</rss>