<?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=pets&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/pets/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:57:24 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
		<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4</generator>

<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Pets</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/pets/</link>
	<width>32</width>
	<height>32</height>
</image> 
				<item>
					<title>Seizures reveal macabre grey parrot blood trade in Cameroon</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2026 18:50:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/25162156/agp-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321827</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Rights, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Ethics, Governance, Health, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pets, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The blood of African grey parrots is emerging as a new, macabre illegal wildlife product traded in Cameroon, analysts from TRAFFIC, a nonprofit that monitors wildlife trafficking, reported. This grim trade in grey parrots, an endangered species long coveted by exotic bird collectors, first came to light in 2025, when forest officials patrolling Cameroon’s Lobéké [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The blood of African grey parrots is emerging as a new, macabre illegal wildlife product traded in Cameroon, analysts from TRAFFIC, a nonprofit that monitors wildlife trafficking, reported. This grim trade in grey parrots, an endangered species long coveted by exotic bird collectors, first came to light in 2025, when forest officials patrolling Cameroon’s Lobéké National Park caught trappers with live birds and interrogated them. “Poachers entering the park trap live birds, then kill them, extract their blood and transport them,” said Biloa Donatien Joseph Guy, the park’s conservator, adding that they haul the blood in bottles and jerry cans — normally used to carry fuel. While park authorities haven’t seized blood from apprehended suspects, poachers have been caught with live birds. Further investigations into these cases are ongoing. When last assessed by the IUCN in 2020, grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus), native to the rainforests of West and Central Africa, were declining, largely because of the pet trade. These beautiful, long-lived birds are among the most intelligent animals on the planet, thought to be as smart as a 5-year-old child. These parrots ‘talk,’ mimicking human speech with uncanny accuracy, making them a popular pet. They appear in videos across TikTok and YouTube, further fueling the demand. As a result, these birds have been poached to near-extinction, commanding exorbitant prices from collectors worldwide. Between 1982 and 2001, more than 1.3 million wild-caught grey parrots entered the international trade, according to IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, making them one of the most&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/seizures-reveal-macabre-grey-parrot-blood-trade-in-cameroon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321827</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>South African authorities thwart smuggling of 150 venomous scorpions, arrest man</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-african-authorities-thwart-smuggling-of-150-venomous-scorpions-arrest-man/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-african-authorities-thwart-smuggling-of-150-venomous-scorpions-arrest-man/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Jun 2026 13:42:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/18155148/Scorpion3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321452</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Arachnids, Conservation, Crime, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Invertebrates, Law, Pet Trade, Pets, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[South African police arrested a 28-year-old man at Cape Town International Airport on June 12, 2026. Inside his luggage, tucked between his clothing, authorities discovered 150 live venomous scorpions. Each one was individually wrapped in a clear plastic bag, like candies at a supermarket It’s not known where the alleged smuggler intended to take the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[South African police arrested a 28-year-old man at Cape Town International Airport on June 12, 2026. Inside his luggage, tucked between his clothing, authorities discovered 150 live venomous scorpions. Each one was individually wrapped in a clear plastic bag, like candies at a supermarket It’s not known where the alleged smuggler intended to take the scorpions or for what purpose. An intelligence-led operation targeted the suspect: Authorities acted on a tip about a man in possession of wildlife. The bust was conducted by the Kuilsriver Stock Theft and Endangered Species Unit, a special police force, in collaboration with CapeNature, a government agency tasked with environmental protection in the Western Cape. Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg told local media that he was arrested on suspicion of being in “possession of a wild animal under the Nature and Environmental Ordinance Act.” An investigation into the case is ongoing. The commercial value of the seized scorpions is yet to be determined, authorities said. The rescued scorpions are being cared for by the Cape of Good Hope SPCA. In a social media statement, the animal rescue organization said they are ensuring the arachnids receive proper care, and they will try to return them “to their place of origin where possible.” The seized scorpions are being cared for at the Cape of Good Hope SPCA. Image courtesy of Cape of Good Hope SPCA/Facebook. Scorpion trade, like other wildlife, is booming The planet is home to more than 2,900 scorpion species; only 25-30 have venom, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-african-authorities-thwart-smuggling-of-150-venomous-scorpions-arrest-man/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-african-authorities-thwart-smuggling-of-150-venomous-scorpions-arrest-man/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321452</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australian authorities seize 100,000 live cockroaches in crackdown on exotic insect trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2026 19:11:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/15145844/4282167421_06254f145e_3k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321200</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Australia, East Africa, Madagascar, and Oceania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Insects, Invertebrates, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Pets, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 5, Australian authorities announced that they confiscated more than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches from an unnamed commercial breeder in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (NSW), about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Sydney. It was the largest bust of illegal invertebrates ever made in the country. The insects were estimated to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On June 5, Australian authorities announced that they confiscated more than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches from an unnamed commercial breeder in Bathurst, a town in New South Wales (NSW), about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Sydney. It was the largest bust of illegal invertebrates ever made in the country. The insects were estimated to be worth about AU$200,000 (about $140,000 at current exchange rates). They included dubia cockroaches (Blaptica dubia), endemic to South America, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) found only in the island nation of Madagascar. They were bred to be sold as food for pet reptiles, authorities said. Hissing cockroaches are also sought after as pets since they don’t have wings and can’t fly away. No one has been charged with a crime, according to a statement by an environment agency spokesperson. Australia has strict biosecurity laws, permitting live import of only certain animal species; controls are needed to effectively protect crops, plants and native wildlife. The legally-imported list excludes exotic insects like cockroaches that can become invasive or spread diseases “We’re seeing illegal breeding and trading of exotic cockroaches, and we’re putting pet businesses and pet owners on notice,” a spokesperson from the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, the agency responsible for environmental protection, said in a press release. “If you are found to possess, breed or trade exotic cockroaches such as dubia cockroaches and Madagascar hissing cockroaches, they will be seized and you could face penalties under federal law.” Officials&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/australian-authorities-seize-100000-live-cockroaches-in-crackdown-on-exotic-insect-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321200</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s native hornbills are being hammered by online and offline trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/indonesias-native-hornbills-are-being-hammered-by-online-and-offline-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/indonesias-native-hornbills-are-being-hammered-by-online-and-offline-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2026 23:35:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/09171905/wreathed-hornbill-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320867</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Pet Trade, Research, Social Media, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Among the many inhabitants of Southeast Asia’s dense rainforests are hornbills — a group of birds that stand out with their raucous call, large, ostentatious beak and colorful feathers. Indonesia harbors 13 species, the most of any country in Asia, three of which are found nowhere else. Hornbills are rapidly losing their homes as large [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Among the many inhabitants of Southeast Asia’s dense rainforests are hornbills — a group of birds that stand out with their raucous call, large, ostentatious beak and colorful feathers. Indonesia harbors 13 species, the most of any country in Asia, three of which are found nowhere else. Hornbills are rapidly losing their homes as large swaths of Indonesian forests are cut down to make way for plantations, mining, dams, cities and other development, or are scorched by wildfires. Trade in these birds also poses another serious threat. Hundreds of hornbills are entering the illegal trade in Indonesia, according to a new study published in the journal Wild, some of which are offered for sale online. They’re sold alive as pets or killed for their casques, the ivory-like appendages above their beaks, and their taxidermied heads, which are displayed as home décor. To understand the scope of this trade, researchers analyzed police and customs confiscation data and surveyed online ads from 2015 to 2025. They learned that this illegal commerce is widespread and involves every Indonesian hornbill species and some from Africa and the Philippines as well. Most birds were sold alive, suggesting they’re bought as pets. Facebook was the preferred online marketplace. “The scale of the hornbill trade in Indonesia is probably greater now than I&#8217;ve seen it in the past,” said study author and wildlife trade researcher Chris Shepherd from the U.S.-based Center for Biological Diversity. “It&#8217;s becoming, perhaps, trendier to keep hornbills.” Indonesia is infamous for its songbird&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/indonesias-native-hornbills-are-being-hammered-by-online-and-offline-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/indonesias-native-hornbills-are-being-hammered-by-online-and-offline-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320867</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly a million birds shipped from Africa to Asia in 15 years; canaries top the list</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2026 15:04:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/15120913/Photo-5-yfc-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317571</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Atlantic Forest, Guinea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Mali, Mozambique, North America, Senegal, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Tanzania, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Health, Invasive Species, Parrots, Pet Trade, Planetary Health, Public Health, Regulations, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, people buy and hunt nearly half of the 11,000 bird species in existence. In Asia, Europe, and North and South America, songbirds and parrots are highly desired pets. Collectors pay exorbitant sums for rare species or melodious birds to compete in high-stakes singing competitions. Falconers and sport hunters capture or kill raptors. Belief-based rituals [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Worldwide, people buy and hunt nearly half of the 11,000 bird species in existence. In Asia, Europe, and North and South America, songbirds and parrots are highly desired pets. Collectors pay exorbitant sums for rare species or melodious birds to compete in high-stakes singing competitions. Falconers and sport hunters capture or kill raptors. Belief-based rituals in West Africa incorporate vulture parts. Buyers in North America seek dead hornbills and hummingbirds as home décor. The list goes on. This massive commerce threatens more than 200 avian species with extinction. Now, as online marketplaces proliferate, customers can order a bird with a swipe on their phone from anywhere on the planet. Moving birds around the world also spreads deadly diseases, from avian influenza to circovirus, and when non-native birds get loose, they may proliferate, outcompeting residents. “There&#8217;s a lack of awareness and appreciation for the scale of this trade, and little attention on the impacts that this could be having on wild populations or the risks for the spread of invasive species and infectious diseases,” said Rowan Martin, director of bird trade at the nonprofit World Parrot Trust. “If people are not aware that this is even happening, then how are we going to be able to mitigate the risks associated with it?” In an attempt to understand the scale of the live bird trade, Martin and his colleagues used records from U.N. Comtrade, a database that aggregates information on all commodities traded between countries. The team analyzed live bird imports into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/nearly-a-million-birds-shipped-from-africa-to-asia-in-15-years-canaries-top-the-list/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317571</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Proboscis monkey found in Thailand adds to evidence of cross-border illegal trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proboscis-monkey-found-in-thailand-adds-to-evidence-of-cross-border-illegal-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proboscis-monkey-found-in-thailand-adds-to-evidence-of-cross-border-illegal-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Mar 2026 19:58:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ana Norman Bermúdez]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/20193246/proboscis-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316064</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Mammals, Monkeys, Pet Trade, Primates, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RATCHABURI, Thailand — On Jan. 6, residents of Samut Sakhon province, central Thailand, found an injured monkey near a railway track. Pot-bellied with reddish-brown fur and a prominent, upturned nose, it was unlike other monkeys typically seen in the area. After calling a wildlife hotline, they took the animal to a nearby clinic. &#8220;That&#8217;s when [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RATCHABURI, Thailand — On Jan. 6, residents of Samut Sakhon province, central Thailand, found an injured monkey near a railway track. Pot-bellied with reddish-brown fur and a prominent, upturned nose, it was unlike other monkeys typically seen in the area. After calling a wildlife hotline, they took the animal to a nearby clinic. &#8220;That&#8217;s when they realized that this was a foreign monkey,&#8221; says Kanpicha Han-Asa, a veterinarian with Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) at the Ban Pong wildlife rescue center, where the monkey was later transferred for rehabilitation. The rescued proboscis monkey at Thailand&#8217;s Ban Pong wildlife rescue center, where it is recovering from its injuries. Image by Ana Norman Bermúdez for Mongabay. Proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus), also known as long-nosed monkeys for their distinctive large noses, are an endangered species endemic to Borneo. The wildlife center in Ban Pong regularly receives animals intercepted from the illegal trade, including nonnative species, but this is the first proboscis monkey the team has handled. &#8220;We haven&#8217;t seen or heard about cases involving this species before,&#8221; says Krishnapong Oncharoen, head of the wildlife protection unit at the center. After receiving the monkey, officers checked for any permits linked to the species. Proboscis monkeys are listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning international trade is banned, except for very specific noncommercial purposes, such as conservation breeding or research. &#8220;If you want to bring them into the country, you must have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proboscis-monkey-found-in-thailand-adds-to-evidence-of-cross-border-illegal-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/proboscis-monkey-found-in-thailand-adds-to-evidence-of-cross-border-illegal-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316064</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Facebook shuts Indonesia groups after Mongabay and Bellingcat report illegal wildlife trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/facebook-shuts-indonesia-groups-after-mongabay-and-bellingcat-report-illegal-wildlife-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/facebook-shuts-indonesia-groups-after-mongabay-and-bellingcat-report-illegal-wildlife-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Mar 2026 09:48:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Achmad Rizki MuazamFoeke Postma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/19094632/20251014_153119-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315939</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Jakarta, Southeast Asia, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Gibbons, Green, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Monkeys, Pet Trade, Poaching, Social Media, Trade, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This story was produced in collaboration with Bellingcat. Read their version here, and Mongabay-Indonesia&#8217;s version here. JAKARTA — A new report by Mongabay and independent journalism organization Bellingcat has uncovered several Facebook groups selling protected species in Indonesia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. In a Facebook group whose Indonesian name translates [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This story was produced in collaboration with Bellingcat. Read their version here, and Mongabay-Indonesia&#8217;s version here. JAKARTA — A new report by Mongabay and independent journalism organization Bellingcat has uncovered several Facebook groups selling protected species in Indonesia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. In a Facebook group whose Indonesian name translates to “West Bogor Animal Selling and Trading Forum,” reporters last year found a member of that group advertising a rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) for sale. In Indonesia, all hornbill species are protected by law. In comments below the post advertising the caged bird, one member warns: “Careful not to get caught.” “That’s the risk,” replied the seller. Another advertisement featured two infant Javan silvery gibbons (Hylobates moloch), fewer than 2,500 mature individuals of which are left in the wild. This species is also protected by law. The West Bogor Animal Selling and Trading Forum group on Facebook added more than 200 advertisements in just one week. Eighteen of them were for threatened species. In total, reporters uncovered a total of nine Facebook groups selling animals like these threatened apes and hornbills. Three of the groups have been active for more than five years. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, states that trade of animals on its platforms is prohibited. Among thousands of adverts posted in the nine groups were a handful of animal photos with the same poster in frame, giving away the location as Station Sato, a quiet pet store in Cibinong, a southern suburb of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/facebook-shuts-indonesia-groups-after-mongabay-and-bellingcat-report-illegal-wildlife-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/facebook-shuts-indonesia-groups-after-mongabay-and-bellingcat-report-illegal-wildlife-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315939</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s orangutan trafficking cases reveal need for a change in approach (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2026 13:08:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Onrizal Onrizal]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/11212405/Juv-of-Sumatran-orangutan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315549</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Aceh, Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Great Apes, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Orangutans, Pet Trade, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[For months, four infant orangutans lived in limbo in Thailand — not as pets, but as evidence. Confiscated in two separate trafficking cases, they were cared for at the Khao Pratubchang Wildlife Rescue Centre while investigators built their files. On Dec. 23, 2025, the babies finally came home: three Sumatran orangutans and one critically endangered [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[For months, four infant orangutans lived in limbo in Thailand — not as pets, but as evidence. Confiscated in two separate trafficking cases, they were cared for at the Khao Pratubchang Wildlife Rescue Centre while investigators built their files. On Dec. 23, 2025, the babies finally came home: three Sumatran orangutans and one critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan, handed over by Thai authorities and repatriated for rehabilitation in North Sumatra. The images were moving — and they mattered. But a hard truth sits behind every heartwarming handover: if the pipeline stays open, the next baby will already be on the move. Just five weeks later, on Jan. 30, 2026, Indonesian officers in East Aceh stopped a truck carrying 53 packages filled with hundreds of protected wildlife specimens and parts, allegedly bound for Thailand. Seen together, these episodes read less like isolated crimes and more like a repeating pattern: seizure, repatriation, new shipment. Wildlife trafficking is an adaptive, transnational business. Repatriation is essential and humane, but it is not a strategy. Prevention is the strategy, and prevention starts by making trafficking unprofitable. Juvenile orangutans confiscated from a trafficker in Indonesia&#8217;s Aceh province in 2015. Photo by Junaidi Hanafiah for Mongabay. Transnational supply pipeline, not “petty crime” Orangutan trafficking and the broader trade in protected wildlife function like a supply chain: capture at the source → local collectors → transporters → cross-border smugglers → end-market buyers. In this chain, couriers are replaceable; organizers and financiers are not. Infant orangutans are especially lucrative because&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/indonesias-orangutan-trafficking-cases-reveal-need-for-a-change-in-approach-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Out of captivity, into conflict: slow lorises struggle to survive after release</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2026 15:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/26101245/Nishat-one-of-the-two-Bengal-slow-lorises-Nycticebus-bengalensis-to-survive-being-released.-Image-courtesy-of-Marcel-Stawinoga-scaled-e1772101486176-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314846</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, South Asia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Conflict, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Pet Trade, Primates, Rainforests, Reintroductions, Research, Rewilding, Slow Loris, Social Media, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife releases are usually joyous events. Uplifting scenes of animals cautiously nosing the air as they take their first tentative steps into freedom warm our hearts. However, new research suggests the wild can be a “death trap,” especially if the released individuals lack the essential skills to find food and integrate with wild populations, or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Wildlife releases are usually joyous events. Uplifting scenes of animals cautiously nosing the air as they take their first tentative steps into freedom warm our hearts. However, new research suggests the wild can be a “death trap,” especially if the released individuals lack the essential skills to find food and integrate with wild populations, or are set free into unsuitable habitat. The new study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation, follows the fate of nine Bengal slow lorises (Nycticebus bengalensis) released into a forest reserve in Bangladesh. The researchers found only two of the nine survived beyond six months. Several died within days or weeks. Slow lorises, with their wide eyes and plump bodies, are one of the world’s most trafficked primates. Despite their venomous bite that can prove fatal to people and their nocturnal habits, they’re highly sought after in the pet trade and for use as tourist photo props — a demand fueled by ill-informed social media videos displaying them in domestic settings or captivity. All nine slow loris species, which range across South and Southeast Asia, are also threatened by deforestation and poachers who kill them for use in traditional medicines. A 2010 study found lorises were the most in-demand animal in traditional medicine stores in Cambodia. Tragically, these pressures act in synergy. Habitat loss pushes lorises closer to forest edges and humans, who at best mistakenly think them lost and take them into captivity with a view to relocating them to a habitat that’s more “wild.”&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/out-of-captivity-into-conflict-slow-lorises-struggle-to-survive-after-release/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314846</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Big cats get the press, but small wildcats are being poached and trafficked in silence</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 15:13:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/25042015/Image-7-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314723</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Bangladesh, Benin, Colombia, Latin America, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, Peru, South America, South Asia, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cats, Conservation, Environment, Illegal Trade, Jaguars, Pet Trade, Poaching, Small Cats, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jaguars are increasingly targeted across Latin America for their roseate-patterned pelts and canine teeth, following decades of relatively little poaching. When researchers in Colombia investigated the jaguar trade within the country, they made a troubling discovery: Colombia&#8217;s small wildcats are also in the crosshairs. Official records revealed that between 2015 and 2021, more than 700 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jaguars are increasingly targeted across Latin America for their roseate-patterned pelts and canine teeth, following decades of relatively little poaching. When researchers in Colombia investigated the jaguar trade within the country, they made a troubling discovery: Colombia&#8217;s small wildcats are also in the crosshairs. Official records revealed that between 2015 and 2021, more than 700 small wildcats were seized or surrendered to authorities. The vast majority of these cats were found alive, including more than 400 ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) as well as oncillas (Leopardus pardinoides), also known as the clouded tiger cat, jaguarundis (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) and margays (Leopardus wiedii). Between 2015 and 2021, more than 400 ocelots were seized by or surrendered to Colombian authorities. Image by Robin Gwen Agarwal via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). Skins, teeth and other parts were also confiscated. The research, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation, suggests an established demand for small wildcats as exotic pets in Colombia. “Until now, the trade in small cats in Latin America had always seemed [to be at] a very low scale — opportunistic activity,” says Melissa Arias, a wildlife trade specialist at the Zoological Society of London and a co-author of the study. “But what we saw with the numbers is that it is actually quite significant.” Their findings are both unsurprising and worrisome, as the true scale of trade is likely to be higher, says Pauline Verheij, a wildlife crime specialist with the NGO EcoJust, who wasn’t involved in the research. “It&#8217;s a given that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/big-cats-get-the-press-but-small-wildcats-are-being-poached-and-trafficked-in-silence/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314723</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>It’s ‘whack-a-mole’: Alarming rise in pet trade fuels wildlife trafficking into California</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2025 13:38:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/20104758/orange-fronted-parakeet-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309886</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, Latin America, Mexico, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Pets, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In October, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at California&#8217;s Otay Mesa border crossing noticed an odd bulge inside a man&#8217;s pants. Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, repeatedly claimed the bump was “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. His history of smuggling birds into the U.S. prompted further examination, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In October, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at California&#8217;s Otay Mesa border crossing noticed an odd bulge inside a man&#8217;s pants. Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana, repeatedly claimed the bump was “pirrin,” a Spanish word for penis. His history of smuggling birds into the U.S. prompted further examination, and the officer found two brown sacks hidden in his underwear. Each contained an unconscious, heavily sedated orange-fronted parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis). He was indicted by a grand jury on November 14 for illegally importing the birds — a protected species native to Mexico and Costa Rica. Earlier that month, investigators with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) uncovered an alleged illegal trafficking operation dealing in rare animal parts that was linked to an unnamed Los Angeles-based business. Officials seized thousands of elephant ivory pieces, nine rhino horns, several carved tusks and a sea turtle shell, which will be analyzed at the department’s Wildlife Forensics Lab. As of publication, no arrests have been made. These incidents offer a glimpse into the range of wildlife flowing illegally into the state: birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. “The recent trends in illegal wildlife trafficking into California show a marked rise in the smuggling of live, high-value species protected under CITES and the Endangered Species Act,” said Denise Larison, acting regional supervisor for wildlife inspection at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). “The top three right now that we&#8217;re seeing in California [are] live reptiles, live corals …&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/its-whack-a-mole-alarming-rise-in-pet-trade-fuels-wildlife-trafficking-into-california/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309886</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Already disappearing, Southeast Asia’s striped rabbits now caught in global pet trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/already-disappearing-southeast-asias-striped-rabbits-now-caught-in-global-pet-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/already-disappearing-southeast-asias-striped-rabbits-now-caught-in-global-pet-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2025 12:40:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/25083030/Annamite_striped_rabbit_Nesolagus_timminsi-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310103</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Governance, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Mammals, Pet Trade, Pets, Poaching, Rodents, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the remote rainforest of Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Annamite Mountains straddling Vietnam and Laos, two species of nocturnal rabbits live elusive lives. These species, both of which have distinctive black stripes coloring their fur, are each known to occur in only a single habitat: the Sumatran striped rabbit (Nesolagus netscheri) is found only in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the remote rainforest of Sumatra, Indonesia, and the Annamite Mountains straddling Vietnam and Laos, two species of nocturnal rabbits live elusive lives. These species, both of which have distinctive black stripes coloring their fur, are each known to occur in only a single habitat: the Sumatran striped rabbit (Nesolagus netscheri) is found only in the western and southern parts of the island, and the Annamite striped rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi) saunters the Annamites. Both species are threatened by disappearing and ever-degraded rainforest habitats, and illegal snaring and poaching, pushing them to the brink of extinction. The IUCN Red List classifies Annamite striped rabbits as endangered and Sumatran striped rabbits as data deficient, meaning scientists do not know how many of them are left in the wild or how well their populations are faring. In a recent paper published in the journal Oryx, conservationists highlight an additional emerging threat to the species: international smuggling for the pet trade. A spate of recent seizures of live striped rabbits in India, which has seen increasing seizures of exotic wildlife species from across the world, highlights the growing trade in the species. All of the seized individuals came from Thailand, which has a thriving wildlife market. Indian authorities identified all seized rabbits as the Sumatran species, but the paper’s authors question that claim. The two species, despite having evolved separately for nearly 8 million years, are so similar that scientists have to peer into their DNA to tell them apart, or use a Vernier&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/already-disappearing-southeast-asias-striped-rabbits-now-caught-in-global-pet-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/already-disappearing-southeast-asias-striped-rabbits-now-caught-in-global-pet-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310103</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists slam Canada-US proposal to lower trade protections for peregrine falcons</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 18:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/19003302/Peregrine_Falcon_male2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309692</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Arctic, Canada, Global, North America, South America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forests, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Politics, Raptors, Regulations, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The crow-sized, slate-blue-backed peregrine falcon, with its bright yellow feet, soars across the skies from Greenland’s Arctic tundra to the steppe plains of Patagonia in South America. Falco peregrinus is one of the most widespread birds on the planet, with 19 subspecies that call coasts, mountains, deserts and river valleys home. These eye-catching raptors are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The crow-sized, slate-blue-backed peregrine falcon, with its bright yellow feet, soars across the skies from Greenland’s Arctic tundra to the steppe plains of Patagonia in South America. Falco peregrinus is one of the most widespread birds on the planet, with 19 subspecies that call coasts, mountains, deserts and river valleys home. These eye-catching raptors are best known for their hunting skills. They can dive at lightning speeds of 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour) — more than three times as fast as a cheetah, the swiftest land animal — to scoop their prey. Falconers prize peregrine falcons and have traded them for centuries, sometimes stealing eggs and young chicks from clifftop nests to breed them in captivity and train them. But it wasn’t falconry, an ancient sport where raptors are trained to hunt specific prey, that caused their near-extinction. It was pesticides: After World War II, chemicals like DDT, aldrin and others became ubiquitous, used in neighborhoods, backyards and on crop fields to kill mosquitoes and agricultural pests. That proved deadly to peregrine falcons. The pesticides poisoned their prey and bioaccumulated in their bodies, impairing their ability to reproduce. The eggs that females were thinner and more fragile, leached of calcium by DDT, and would break in the nests before the chicks could hatch. Peregrine falcon populations crashed across North America and Europe. They completely disappeared from the eastern U.S. and were on the brink of extinction in the West. Then, in 1962, U.S. biologist Rachel Carson published&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/scientists-slam-canada-us-proposal-to-lower-trade-protections-for-peregrine-falcons/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309692</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Trade in marine fish for aquariums includes threatened species, lacks oversight: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/trade-in-marine-fish-for-aquariums-includes-threatened-species-lacks-oversight-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/trade-in-marine-fish-for-aquariums-includes-threatened-species-lacks-oversight-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 17:10:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/18081226/4-Pyramid-butterflyfish-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309700</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquaculture, Aquariums, Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Pet Trade, Pets, Research, Saltwater Fish, Science, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The United States is the main market for “ornamental” marine fish, those that end up as pets in aquariums. Now, a new study of U.S.-based online retailers has found that nearly 90% of traded species are sourced exclusively from the wild, including a number of threatened species, and that the trade is poorly tracked. The [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The United States is the main market for “ornamental” marine fish, those that end up as pets in aquariums. Now, a new study of U.S.-based online retailers has found that nearly 90% of traded species are sourced exclusively from the wild, including a number of threatened species, and that the trade is poorly tracked. The study, published in October in the journal Conservation Biology, raises concerns about the ecological impact of the trade on marine ecosystems, including around coral reefs, in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, where the fish are caught. “We urgently need stronger traceability and regulatory oversight to ensure that aquarium fish are sourced responsibly,” Bing Lin, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney, Australia, and lead author of the study, said in a press release. Lin undertook the study as a Ph.D. student at Princeton University, U.S. “Consumers have no reliable way of knowing whether the fish they buy were sustainably harvested.” A clownfish, possibly Amphiprion ocellaris, around the island of Bali in Indonesia. Image courtesy of Bing Lin. Bing Lin, who led a study on the marine aquarium trade as a Ph.D. student at Princeton University. Image courtesy of Bing Lin &amp; Helen Yan. The study doesn’t deal with the trade in freshwater aquarium species, which have different supply chains and market dynamics, and are mainly bred in captivity. Nor does it look at the trade in sharks, invertebrates or corals — the focus is marine finfish. More than 1,700 marine finfish&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/trade-in-marine-fish-for-aquariums-includes-threatened-species-lacks-oversight-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/trade-in-marine-fish-for-aquariums-includes-threatened-species-lacks-oversight-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309700</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Gibbon trafficking pushes rehabilitation centers to the max in North Sumatra</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/gibbon-trafficking-pushes-rehabilitation-centers-to-the-max-in-north-sumatra/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/gibbon-trafficking-pushes-rehabilitation-centers-to-the-max-in-north-sumatra/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Nov 2025 00:30:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11190508/Trafficked-infant-gibbons-confiscated-in-North-Sumatra-in-March-2025.-Image-courtesy-of-Jason-Savage-Photography-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309282</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forests, Gibbons, Illegal Trade, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Pet Trade, Poaching, Primates, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEDAN, Indonesia — Two infant siamang gibbons cling to each other. Barely 6 months old, their lanky limbs entwine their tiny bodies as they stare out of the triage cage, their wide eyes shining. Each is an orphaned victim of the illegal pet trade. Like most trafficked gibbons, their mothers were likely shot and killed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEDAN, Indonesia — Two infant siamang gibbons cling to each other. Barely 6 months old, their lanky limbs entwine their tiny bodies as they stare out of the triage cage, their wide eyes shining. Each is an orphaned victim of the illegal pet trade. Like most trafficked gibbons, their mothers were likely shot and killed by poachers before they were wrested from her body and shipped into the trade. Deprived of maternal body heat and milk, the youngsters now instinctively grip each other as if for comfort. At the back of the rescue enclosure, a smaller body hunkers in a corner, shrouded in solitude and silence. A tiny Javan gibbon, it glances up from time to time, but is wary. “The Javan gibbon is still shy,” says Sinan Serhadli, support officer at the gibbon rehabilitation and release program run by the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) as part of the Sumatran Rescue Alliance (SRA) in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. “He will eat, but he doesn’t want any contact with humans.” Sinan Serhadli inspects the health of two siamang gibbons that were confiscated from traffickers in March 2025. Image by Carolyn Cowan / Mongabay. The infant siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus) and Javan gibbon (Hylobates moloch) were brought to the SRA rehabilitation center on the outskirts of Gunung Leuser National Park in March 2025 after an Indonesian naval patrol confiscated them from a boat intercepted in the Strait of Malacca. The vessel, believed to be destined for Peninsular Malaysia or southern Thailand, was smuggling&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/gibbon-trafficking-pushes-rehabilitation-centers-to-the-max-in-north-sumatra/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/gibbon-trafficking-pushes-rehabilitation-centers-to-the-max-in-north-sumatra/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309282</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>New global guidelines needed to rein in the wildlife pet trade (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/new-global-guidelines-needed-to-rein-in-the-wildlife-pet-trade-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/new-global-guidelines-needed-to-rein-in-the-wildlife-pet-trade-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Oct 2025 14:16:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Bennett]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/06212057/palm-civet-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307124</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Ethics, Governance, Health, Illegal Trade, Law, Pet Trade, Planetary Health, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The illegal and unsustainable wildlife pet trade depends on the appeal of live animals — creatures that people naturally want to care for. Yet behind the allure of a bright-eyed chameleon or playful primate lies an ecological tragedy: forests and grasslands left silent, stripped of the pollinators, seed dispersers and predators that keep ecosystems functioning. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The illegal and unsustainable wildlife pet trade depends on the appeal of live animals — creatures that people naturally want to care for. Yet behind the allure of a bright-eyed chameleon or playful primate lies an ecological tragedy: forests and grasslands left silent, stripped of the pollinators, seed dispersers and predators that keep ecosystems functioning. At a time when global biodiversity is under unprecedented threat, the scale of the trade is staggering. Across the world, millions of live animals — mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians — are taken from the wild every year. Over a nine-year period, more than 1 million chameleons of 108 species were reported as exported globally. An estimated 3,600 cheetah cubs — many orphaned when their mothers were killed — were smuggled out of the Horn of Africa for sale in wealthy Middle Eastern markets. In Indonesia, nearly 200,000 wild birds of 95 species were recorded as transported between two islands over three years. And in the United States, almost 100,000 listings for live reptiles and amphibians covering 652 species appeared on pet-trading websites over four years. Tackling the global pet trade means supporting stronger laws, enforcement, and education campaigns worldwide to reduce demand for species like the scarlet macaw. Image courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). These are not isolated examples. They illustrate a systemic problem of breathtaking scale, one that is growing in both numbers and diversity of species targeted. For every animal that reaches a buyer, many more die in capture or transit.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/new-global-guidelines-needed-to-rein-in-the-wildlife-pet-trade-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/new-global-guidelines-needed-to-rein-in-the-wildlife-pet-trade-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307124</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pet sharks have become cool, but is owning them ethical?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Sep 2025 16:53:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hallie Lieberman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/17123307/Transitional-zebra-shark-Aquarium-of-the-Pacific-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306102</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Coral Reefs, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Overfishing, Pet Trade, Pets, Predators, Saltwater Fish, Sharks, Top Predators, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Laurie was a kid, she had recurrent nightmares that featured her getting eaten by a shark. Decades later, Laurie goes to sleep next to them (or at least in the same house). She’s the proud owner of two epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) in her 1,135-liter (300-gallon) tank: bottom-dwelling spotted sharks up to 0.6 meters [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Laurie was a kid, she had recurrent nightmares that featured her getting eaten by a shark. Decades later, Laurie goes to sleep next to them (or at least in the same house). She’s the proud owner of two epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) in her 1,135-liter (300-gallon) tank: bottom-dwelling spotted sharks up to 0.6 meters (2 feet) long that are known as “walking sharks” because they use their fins to crawl on the bottom of the ocean. Laurie acquired them from an owner who no longer wanted them. “I can’t release them because our waters are different than their habitat, but I can give them a good home and appreciate them while respecting Mother Nature,” says Laurie, a U.S. resident who asked to be identified by her first name. She adds that the sharks give her a feeling of Zen. Home shark tanks are no longer just the province of tech bros or celebrities who spend millions on 38,000-l (10,000-gal) aquariums full of apex predators. Now middle-class aquarium owners are adding smaller, bottom-dwelling sharks to their home aquariums. These sharks are benthic, meaning they hang out on the ocean floor. Many can breathe while lying down by pumping water through their gills in contrast to pelagic sharks like whitetips (Carcharhinus longimanus) and tigers (Galeocerdo cuvier), which swim the open ocean and must keep moving to breathe. A growing aquarium industry is serving home shark tank owners’ needs by providing bamboo (Hemiscylliidae spp.), epaulette, zebra (Stegostoma tigrinum) and catsharks (Scyliorhinidae spp.).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/pet-sharks-have-become-cool-but-is-owning-them-ethical/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306102</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New model reveals hidden dynamics of Indonesia’s booming songbird trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-songbird-trade-wildlife-trafficking-market-demand-supply/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-songbird-trade-wildlife-trafficking-market-demand-supply/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Sep 2025 13:09:50 +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/20/2025/08/29070532/1000269860-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305118</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Wild Bird Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, East Java, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Pet Trade, Rainforests, Trade, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have developed the first model to map how supply and demand interact in Indonesia’s highly lucrative songbird trade, revealing patterns that could help curb poaching pressure on rare and threatened species. Market dynamics in Indonesia’s songbird trade appear to be driven more by species traits, such as mimicry, rather than species identity, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have developed the first model to map how supply and demand interact in Indonesia’s highly lucrative songbird trade, revealing patterns that could help curb poaching pressure on rare and threatened species. Market dynamics in Indonesia’s songbird trade appear to be driven more by species traits, such as mimicry, rather than species identity, according to a new paper published in the journal Biological Conservation. The researchers said understanding this trade aspect could uncover demand patterns that were previously overlooked, subsequently aiding in the development of strategies to reduce demand in a country whose songbird trade is one of the world’s most prolific wildlife trade sectors. “There is one big question that I get asked a lot: who are buying these birds found in the markets and for what? Why are they selling so many species?” study lead author Karlina Indraswari, who conducted the research during her Ph.D. studies at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, told Mongabay by email. “Then it continued to the question, why are there so many species recorded in the supply side, yet very little info from the demand side? &#8230; Therefore, can we, at least, get a rough idea of why certain species are traded. So, with that, I shared the idea to the team who were keen to assist me with this paper,” she added. Demand for wild-caught birds remains high, fueling a market that poses serious risks to Indonesia’s threatened species. Image courtesy of Ganjar Cahyadi. The bird trade thrives in Indonesia,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-songbird-trade-wildlife-trafficking-market-demand-supply/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-songbird-trade-wildlife-trafficking-market-demand-supply/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal pet trade in Nepal now shifting online, research suggests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/illegal-pet-trade-in-nepal-now-shifting-online-research-suggests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/illegal-pet-trade-in-nepal-now-shifting-online-research-suggests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2025 11:20:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/31095945/IMG_1852-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303497</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Forest, China, India, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Herps, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Pet Trade, Turtles And Tortoises, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Wildlife trafficking for the illegal pet trade in Nepal has made a significant shift online, according to recent research that attributes the trend to the rapid penetration of smartphones, social media and online payment systems across Nepali society. The findings, based on year-long research led by Reshu Bashyal from environmental NGO Greenhood Nepal, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Wildlife trafficking for the illegal pet trade in Nepal has made a significant shift online, according to recent research that attributes the trend to the rapid penetration of smartphones, social media and online payment systems across Nepali society. The findings, based on year-long research led by Reshu Bashyal from environmental NGO Greenhood Nepal, also suggests the country, previously seen as a source and transit point for wildlife trafficking, could soon emerge as a destination country. “We see that with the advent of mobile phones and social media, illegal trade in wild animals as pets has gone digital,” Bashyal said at a session to share the preliminary findings of the research into the illegal pet trade in the region. “Our initial findings suggest that economic growth in South Asia, including Nepal, in recent years is leading to increased connectivity and movement of goods, including wildlife,” she said. Pigeons being sold at a temple in Nepal. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/ Mongabay. The objective of the research, conducted between October 2022 and June 2023 (continued til December 2025) , was to identify emerging trends and drivers and assess governance gaps. It also looked at the species traded and mapped key trafficking routes, said researcher Ashmita Shrestha, also from Greenhood Nepal. Nearly three in four Nepali adults uses a smartphone, according to the 2020 census, and about half the population is on Facebook, the country’s most popular social media site, according to analytics firm NapoleonCat. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/illegal-pet-trade-in-nepal-now-shifting-online-research-suggests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/illegal-pet-trade-in-nepal-now-shifting-online-research-suggests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303497</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study finds worrying uptick in proboscis monkey trade in Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/study-finds-worrying-uptick-in-proboscis-monkey-trade-in-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/study-finds-worrying-uptick-in-proboscis-monkey-trade-in-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jul 2025 17:47:53 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/18153442/proboscis-monkey-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302807</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, Indonesia, Kalimantan, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Forests, Fragmentation, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Monkeys, Pet Trade, Poaching, Primates, Regulations, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With its long, pendulous nose, characteristic pot belly and large size, the odd-looking, leaf-eating proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) may not feature on the list of the world’s cutest animals. Yet, this endangered primate, a Borneo native living along rivers and swampy mangrove forests, seems to have gained newfound appeal in recent years in the international [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With its long, pendulous nose, characteristic pot belly and large size, the odd-looking, leaf-eating proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) may not feature on the list of the world’s cutest animals. Yet, this endangered primate, a Borneo native living along rivers and swampy mangrove forests, seems to have gained newfound appeal in recent years in the international wildlife trade, according to a study published in the journal Discover Animals. The researchers searched the internet for media reports of seizures, social media ads and legal trade data from CITES — the international wildlife trade agreement — relating to proboscis monkeys between 1999 and 2024. They found about a hundred individuals in the illegal trade, all from Indonesia. There was a marked uptick in the trade in the last decade, with nearly half of the individuals traded listed on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. In addition, zoos in Indonesia were found to have increasingly acquired these monkeys since 2016, possibly from the wild. The researchers say this surge in trade could have repercussions for the conservation of this endangered species. Proboscis monkeys are legally protected in all three countries where they are found: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. It is illegal to keep, buy or sell them or their parts. The species is also listed on CITES Appendix I, which prohibits all international commercial trade, except for exchanges between zoos and for scientific research. While proboscis monkeys have been on study co-author Vincent Nijman’s radar since his Ph.D. research nearly three decades&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/study-finds-worrying-uptick-in-proboscis-monkey-trade-in-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/study-finds-worrying-uptick-in-proboscis-monkey-trade-in-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302807</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>DNA probe links Japan’s otter-themed cafes to poaching hotspots in Thailand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/dna-probe-links-japans-otter-themed-cafes-to-poaching-hotspots-in-thailand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/dna-probe-links-japans-otter-themed-cafes-to-poaching-hotspots-in-thailand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 May 2025 04:00:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/23110434/Small-clawed-otter_RAB-e1747998306214-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299550</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, DNA, Environment, Genetics, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Pet Trade, Poaching, Research, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A glut of social media videos featuring captive Asian small-clawed otters in the mid-2000s led to what wildlife trade experts term “the pet otter boom.” Demand for the species exploded, placing pressure on wild populations already contending with widespread loss of their wetland habitats. Amid an emerging trend for otter-themed exotic animal cafes in some [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A glut of social media videos featuring captive Asian small-clawed otters in the mid-2000s led to what wildlife trade experts term “the pet otter boom.” Demand for the species exploded, placing pressure on wild populations already contending with widespread loss of their wetland habitats. Amid an emerging trend for otter-themed exotic animal cafes in some of the world’s largest cities, experts worry the demand for live otters will intensify. Researchers from France, Japan and Thailand recently used DNA tests to investigate the geographic origins of Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus) held in exotic animal cafes in Japan. Their study, published in Conservation Science and Practice, links many of them with wild populations in well-known otter poaching hotspots in southern Thailand. “Actually, there’s a lot more Thai otters in Japan than we previously thought,” said study co-author Worata Klinsawat, a conservation biologist at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand. “Otters are now one of the top three mammals that people want to keep as exotic pets.” The species, which ranges from South Asia across Southeast Asia, has been listed under Appendix I of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, since 2019, which means the commercial trade in wild specimens is prohibited. It’s also protected by national laws within many countries in its range, including Thailand. However, it lacks legal protection in Indonesia and Vietnam, leaving loopholes that traffickers exploit to sell wild-caught animals. Consequently, many captive otters in destination countries like Japan have ambiguous origins. Asian small-clawed otters are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/dna-probe-links-japans-otter-themed-cafes-to-poaching-hotspots-in-thailand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/dna-probe-links-japans-otter-themed-cafes-to-poaching-hotspots-in-thailand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299550</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Venomous snakes, freshwater fish among legally traded species most likely to become invasive in US</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/venomous-snakes-freshwater-fish-among-legally-traded-species-most-likely-to-become-invasive-in-us/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/venomous-snakes-freshwater-fish-among-legally-traded-species-most-likely-to-become-invasive-in-us/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 May 2025 16:24:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/19094621/Puff-Adder-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299234</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Invasive Species, Pet Trade, Reptiles, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Although a superpower, the U.S. is under constant invasion — we’re not talking humans here but meek-looking plants and animals that have caused ecological havoc. Take, for instance, the tiny, nocturnal coqui frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui) in Hawai‘i that arrived from Puerto Rico in the 1980s and are now terrorizing the islanders with their deafening “ko-kee” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Although a superpower, the U.S. is under constant invasion — we’re not talking humans here but meek-looking plants and animals that have caused ecological havoc. Take, for instance, the tiny, nocturnal coqui frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui) in Hawai‘i that arrived from Puerto Rico in the 1980s and are now terrorizing the islanders with their deafening “ko-kee” calls that can be as loud as a motorcycle engine. With numbers in Hawai‘i now surpassing those in Puerto Rico, the frogs have scrubbed the forest floor and treetops of vital pollinating insects, toppled property prices in prime real estate markets, and are hurting tourism. It’s not just the frogs: Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus), Argentine black-and-white tegus (Salvator merianae), European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), invasive carps in the Mississippi, zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), English ivy (Hedera helix) — the list is long. Many of these were legally imported, either as ornamental plants, bait or exotic pets, but soon escaped into the wild and established themselves, devastating the local environment and costing the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion. “Prevention is the most effective and cost-efficient way of preventing those impacts that we know that nonnative species can have,” said Wesley Daniel from the U.S. Geological Survey. A starting point is figuring out which of the thousands of species imported into the country are most likely to become invasive. So that’s what Daniel and his colleagues did. The findings from their recently published study identified 32 legally traded nonnative vertebrate species in the U.S. that have the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/venomous-snakes-freshwater-fish-among-legally-traded-species-most-likely-to-become-invasive-in-us/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/venomous-snakes-freshwater-fish-among-legally-traded-species-most-likely-to-become-invasive-in-us/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
					<enclosure url="https://mauiinvasive.org/wp-content/uploads/one-coqui-turning-into-a-population.mp3" length="2177226" type="audio/mpeg" />
					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299234</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Traffickers slither through loopholes with wild-caught African snakes and lizards</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/traffickers-slither-through-loopholes-with-wild-caught-african-snakes-and-lizards/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/traffickers-slither-through-loopholes-with-wild-caught-african-snakes-and-lizards/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2025 12:09:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ryan Truscott]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/13064027/Sungazer.Smaug_.giganteus_CloudtailFlickrBYNCND2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298985</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Arachnids, Biodiversity, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Extinction, Illegal Trade, Insects, Invertebrates, Pet Trade, Pets, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JOHANNESBURG — South Africa is a hub for the international pet trade, with thousands of animals exported each year. Many of these are exotic birds and mammals like parrots and marmosets, bred locally for foreign markets. But the export of reptiles and amphibians tells a different story. Researchers and conservationists warn that some of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JOHANNESBURG — South Africa is a hub for the international pet trade, with thousands of animals exported each year. Many of these are exotic birds and mammals like parrots and marmosets, bred locally for foreign markets. But the export of reptiles and amphibians tells a different story. Researchers and conservationists warn that some of the country&#8217;s native, and threatened, reptiles and amphibians are also being targeted for export due to a lack of international protection. A recent study in the journal Sustainability analyzed more than 13 million records spanning nearly 50 years since 1975. It found that eight of the top 10 reptiles exported from South Africa were native species that included tortoises, chameleons, rock monitors and girdled (or sungazer) lizards. “When compared with other [native animals], we are getting more wild-caught reptiles [exported],” says study lead author Ndivhuwo Shivambu, a zoologist at the Tshwane University of Technology. Activists say smuggled animals including adders and geckos are presented as “captive-bred” at reptile expos such as Germany&#8217;s Terraristika. Images supplied. In a separate study published in Animals, Shivambu and her colleagues found that out of 132 South African reptile species exported for the pet trade, only 71 are listed under CITES, the international treaty regulating wildlife trade. “Many South African native species traded internationally are not CITES-listed, leaving them unprotected,” Shivambu notes. None of the 19 South African amphibian species Shivambu and her colleagues found to be exported are listed under CITES. One of those exported species, the western leopard toad (Sclerophrys&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/traffickers-slither-through-loopholes-with-wild-caught-african-snakes-and-lizards/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/traffickers-slither-through-loopholes-with-wild-caught-african-snakes-and-lizards/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298985</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Action plan aims to save Asia’s leaf-eating monkeys amid ‘alarming’ declines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/action-plan-aims-to-save-asias-leaf-eating-monkeys-amid-alarming-declines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/action-plan-aims-to-save-asias-leaf-eating-monkeys-amid-alarming-declines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2025 14:42:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/15130428/Image-2_Raffles_-banded-langur-Credit-Andie-Ang-e1744727879673-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297655</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Extinction, Forests, Fragmentation, Green, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Monkeys, Pet Trade, Poaching, Primates, Traditional Medicine, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Primatologists and conservation organizations have launched a 10-year action plan to improve the outlook for langur monkeys in the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot, a region of Southeast Asia that spans Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. Asian langurs, a group of 20 species in the genus Presbytis, are in steep decline across Southeast Asia due [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Primatologists and conservation organizations have launched a 10-year action plan to improve the outlook for langur monkeys in the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot, a region of Southeast Asia that spans Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. Asian langurs, a group of 20 species in the genus Presbytis, are in steep decline across Southeast Asia due to habitat loss, hunting and retaliatory killings triggered by crop-raiding conflicts, said action plan co-author Andie Ang, a researcher at Singapore-based Mandai Nature. The medium-size arboreal monkeys face particularly severe pressure in the Sundaland region, she noted. “Sundaland has among the world’s highest deforestation rates: over 50% of forest cover [has] been lost since 1970, fragmenting langur habitats,” Ang, who is also deputy chair of the primate specialist group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority and part of the consortium behind the plan, told Mongabay. As the first ever conservation framework targeting an entire genus of threatened monkeys in Asia, Ang said the new plan will help to make the most of limited conservation resources. “By focusing on Sundaland — a region of both crisis and opportunity — the plan maximizes impact for langurs and ecosystems alike,” she said. The drivers of forest loss vary across the Sundaland region, from expansion of oil palm monoculture in Borneo, to road construction, urban encroachment and forest fires in Sumatra. The impacts on langur numbers have been just as devastating. According to the IUCN Red List, 24 of the 28 types of langur found across Sundaland&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/action-plan-aims-to-save-asias-leaf-eating-monkeys-amid-alarming-declines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/action-plan-aims-to-save-asias-leaf-eating-monkeys-amid-alarming-declines/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297655</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Back to the skies: the unlikely comeback of one of Brazil&#8217;s rarest parrots</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2025 19:27:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Xavier Bartaburu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/14192226/MAX1351-Enhanced-NR-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297552</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest and Brazil]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Conservation, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hope and optimism, Innovation, Parrots, Pet Trade, Species recovery, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Parrots numbered 44460 and 44461 don&#8217;t know it yet, but they&#8217;re about to meet the human species — with all the trauma that entails. It&#8217;s late afternoon, yesterday&#8217;s rain has left a swamp on the ground and Leco has already dug his boots into the young guanandi tree, whose trunk he will climb to a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Parrots numbered 44460 and 44461 don&#8217;t know it yet, but they&#8217;re about to meet the human species — with all the trauma that entails. It&#8217;s late afternoon, yesterday&#8217;s rain has left a swamp on the ground and Leco has already dug his boots into the young guanandi tree, whose trunk he will climb to a height of 15 meters (50 feet). Right where, 55 days ago, the two winged siblings came into the world. They&#8217;ve survived possums, hawks and snakes, but they won&#8217;t escape the skillful hands of Alescar Cassilha, or Leco: just a few seconds and the two chicks, one at a time, will end up in a bag that descends to the ground, where other human hands await them. They could be Elenise&#8217;s or Deise&#8217;s, it doesn&#8217;t matter: the trauma is the same, and the parrots respond to it with cries and flapping wings. Number 44460 is the most agitated; 44461 seems more docile. “It must be a female,” says Deise. We can&#8217;t tell: red-tailed amazons don&#8217;t have sexual dimorphism; only genetic testing can find out. But for now, what matters is checking that the birds are healthy, including a thorough assessment where the body, beak, tail, wings and everything else are measured, along with feather collection and parasite research. The two siblings don&#8217;t know it yet, but at the end of this unpleasant experience they will receive a gift: a bird band each, ensuring that if they are caught in the illegal trade, they can be properly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/back-to-the-skies-the-unlikely-comeback-of-one-of-brazils-rarest-parrots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297552</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>Indonesia’s voracious songbird trade laps up rare and poisonous pitohuis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jan 2025 12:58:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/10072028/Hooded-Pitohui-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292804</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Parrots, Pet Trade, Poaching, Trade, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Among New Guinea’s rainforest inhabitants is a group of birds called pitohuis, chatty songbirds that stand out for their loud, attractive songs. But there’s more to these birds than their songs: their poison. Pitohuis are among the few poisonous birds on the planet. Their skin and feathers contain potent neurotoxins, which help them fight off parasites such as lice, ticks and fleas, and predators, including humans. When humans handle these birds, the neurotoxins irritate the nasal passage and cause allergy-like symptoms. Yet even the poison doesn’t seem enough to protect pitohuis from the songbird trade, as new research shows. A study published in the journal Bird Conservation International by a team of international researchers and an NGO presents the first evidence of poisonous pitohuis (genus Pitohuis) entering the songbird trade in Indonesia, which occupies the western half of the island of New Guinea. The researchers find that these birds appeared in the trade in 2015 and have since been sold in bird markets and online platforms, raising conservation concerns about the illegal trade of these birds. Birdkeeping is a traditional practice rooted in Javanese culture, where a third of households keep songbirds. Studies estimate that the island has anywhere between 66 million and 84 million caged birds. For most, it’s a cherished hobby, and for a few, they’re prize-winning contestants in singing competitions. But this penchant for songbirds has a dark side: the Asian songbird crisis. With soaring demand for songbirds, thousands of wild-caught birds are entering the trade in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/indonesias-voracious-songbird-trade-laps-up-rare-and-poisonous-pitohuis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292804</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Four new tarantula species found in India’s Western Ghats mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/four-new-tarantula-species-found-in-indias-western-ghats-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/four-new-tarantula-species-found-in-indias-western-ghats-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Dec 2024 15:02:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/31144013/ZeeshanMirzaNewTarantula-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292581</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[India and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, New Discovery, Pet Trade, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A researcher described four new species of tarantulas, including one new genus, from India&#8217;s Western Ghats, a chain of mountains running along the country&#8217;s west coast. &#8220;Most people in India are not even aware that there are tarantulas in India when there are more than 60 species in the country,&#8221; Zeeshan Mirza, from the Max [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A researcher described four new species of tarantulas, including one new genus, from India&#8217;s Western Ghats, a chain of mountains running along the country&#8217;s west coast. &#8220;Most people in India are not even aware that there are tarantulas in India when there are more than 60 species in the country,&#8221; Zeeshan Mirza, from the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Germany, who found and described the species, told Mongabay. The large, fuzzy spiders live in tree hollows, along streams and forest paths, and in forest patches. They exhibit interesting behaviors, such as females carrying their egg sacs under their mouth parts (or chelicerae) or creating hammock-like web structures to protect their eggs. Zeeshan Mirza with one of the new tarantula species from the Western Ghats. Mirza has discovered several species of reptiles in India as well. Photo courtesy of Mirza. One of the new species, named Haploclastus bratocolonus (meaning &#8220;tree dweller&#8221;), makes its home in hollow trees along rivers. Another species, Haploclastus montanus, was found living at elevations higher than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) in mountain forests, making it one of the highest-living tarantulas known from the region. Some of the new species were found in the rare small fragments of remaining shola forest surrounded by tea plantations. Among the species was an entirely new genus of tarantulas called Cilantica, named after the Tamil word for spider. They can be identified by the unique scattered pattern of curved bristles on their bodies, unlike the C-shaped arrangement of bristles found in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/four-new-tarantula-species-found-in-indias-western-ghats-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/four-new-tarantula-species-found-in-indias-western-ghats-mountains/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292581</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Greater Mekong serves up 234 new species in a year, from fanged hedgehog to diva viper</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Dec 2024 06:11:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/16052538/1-Hylomys-macarong-%C2%A9-Alexei-V.-Abramov-02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291689</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Conservation, Cryptic Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Mountains, New Discovery, Orchids, Pet Trade, Plants, Reptiles, Research, Rivers, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The dense tropical forests, isolated mountain peaks and limestone karst caverns of the Greater Mekong region yielded a remarkable 234 new-to-science species in 2023, according to a new report compiled by WWF. A striking orange-and-black crocodile newt recorded at the highest ever elevation for its type, a karst dragon lizard that represents an entirely new [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The dense tropical forests, isolated mountain peaks and limestone karst caverns of the Greater Mekong region yielded a remarkable 234 new-to-science species in 2023, according to a new report compiled by WWF. A striking orange-and-black crocodile newt recorded at the highest ever elevation for its type, a karst dragon lizard that represents an entirely new genus, and a shrew mole that tips the scales at only 8 grams, or less than 0.3 ounces, qualifying it among the top 10 lightest land mammals on Earth, feature among the new assortment of species. Nature enthusiasts and researchers in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, along with experts at global museums, described 173 plants, 26 reptiles, 17 amphibians, 15 fish and three mammals previously unknown to science. The 2023 haul brings the total number of newly described species in the region since 1997 to 3,623. “Although these species were just described by science last year, they have been living in the unique habitats of our region for many millennia,” said Chris Hallam, head of wildlife and wildlife crime at WWF-Greater Mekong. “Each of these species is a critical piece of a functioning, healthy ecosystem and a jewel in the region&#8217;s rich natural heritage.” Other new curiosities include a species of wild ginger with roots that smell like mango; a red-and-green pit viper with scales sculpting the appearance of glamorous eyelashes around its eyes; and a soft-furred hedgehog that makes up for its lack of pointy spines with formidable incisors, described by researchers as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/greater-mekong-serves-up-234-new-species-in-a-year-from-fanged-hedgehog-to-diva-viper/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291689</doi>				</item>
			</channel>
</rss>