Illegal trade News

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Rare Indonesian maleo birds face new threat from international exotic pet trade

Mongabay.com 22 Oct 2026
Endemic to Colombia, Lehmann’s poison frog (Oophaga lehmanni) is a critically endangered species threatened by the pet trade.

Legal gaps allow rampant pet trade, poaching reptiles and amphibians towards extinction

Spoorthy Raman 16 Oct 2026
An Egyptian vulture in Chad. Image courtesy of Sahara Conservation.

Vulture conservation project to target illegal killing and poisoning in Chad

Sean Mowbray 16 Oct 2026
Long-tailed macaques living in the mountains of Cambodia's Battambang province

Cambodia was told to clean up its monkey trade. Regulators say it still hasn’t

Gerald Flynn 15 Oct 2026
African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Image by GRID-Arendal via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Thailand seizes ivory shipment from Zambia, to launch DNA investigation

Shreya Dasgupta 15 Oct 2026
Some species of Amazon turtles, such as the yellow-spotted river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis), are part of the diet of many Amazon people.

Researchers uncover hidden routes and patterns of Amazon wildlife trade

Fernanda Wenzel 14 Oct 2026
Angelshark, commonly called peixe anjo in Brazil, (“angel fish” in Portuguese), continues to be sold at stalls in the Porto Alegre Public Market. Image courtesy of Alex Rocha/PMPA.

Endangered angelshark is still traded in Brazil despite import ban

Fernanda Wenzel 8 Oct 2026

Australia’s new eco police flexes muscles with major wildlife trafficking bust

Mongabay.com 8 Oct 2026
A shopper walks through Chatuchak Market carrying her pet raccoon.

More Latin American species are surfacing at a Bangkok wildlife market

Mongabay.com 5 Oct 2026
A maleo

Wildlife traffickers are now targeting Indonesia’s critically endangered maleo birds

Spoorthy Raman 2 Oct 2026
Two Spix’s macaws

Vantara in talks with Brazil on ‘strategic cooperation’ on threatened species, FOIA documents reveal

Fernanda Wenzel, Spoorthy Raman 1 Oct 2026
Mineral traders watch on as antimony ore is transferred from Myanmar trucks to Thai trucks at the Pheung Khleung border crossing. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay.

Myanmar’s polluting mines selling to China through Thai companies

Gerald Flynn 1 Oct 2026
An earless monitor lizard, endemic to Borneo.

Illegal wildlife continues to slip through Canada’s borders. Experts explain how

Alex Megerle 30 Sep 2026
Anant Ambani with elephants

NGOs call on Vantara to end all wild animal imports permanently

Spoorthy Raman 25 Sep 2026
Environmental agents use satellite imagery analyses and on-site inspections to identify the flow of illegal wood, such as this seizure from the Cachoeira Seca Indigenous Territory, using timber credits. Image by IBAMA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

To tackle environmental crime, track profits through the whole supply chain (commentary)

Robert Muggah, Ilona Szabó de Carvalho 25 Sep 2026
In this operation, enforcement officials recovered 28 native reptiles, including shingleback lizards (pictured here), spiny-tailed skinks and lace monitors. Image courtesy of the National Environmental Protection Agency.

Reptiles, gold and money: How Australia is cracking down on wildlife trafficking

Johan Augustin 23 Sep 2026
Beginning in the mid-2000s, poachers targeted elephants for their tusks, which were worth hefty sums on the black market. In some countries, including Zambia, governments and conservationists are trying to find new ways to combat poaching — like understanding motivations and trying to provide alternative, legal employment.

‘How did you come to be here?’ Study digs into origins of Zambian wildlife crime

Alex Megerle 19 Sep 2026
This infant Sumatran orangutan was separated from its mother when it was forcibly taken by hunters in the forest in Indonesia.

Five orangutans found in India face long road back home to Indonesia

Junaidi Hanafiah 18 Sep 2026
Wildlife of all kinds is for sale in Bangkok’s Chatuchak Market’s ‘Pets’ zone, with growing numbers coming from Latin America.

Why is Amazonian wildlife turning up at a Bangkok market?

Gloria Dickie 8 Sep 2026

Vietnam seizes 1.2 tons of ivory, plus big cat bones, hidden in timber shipment

Naina Rao 3 Sep 2026

Can big tech stop wildlife crime?

Sam Lee 26 Aug 2026
An elephant tusk offered for sale to undercover ELI investigators in Cambodia. Image courtesy of Earth League International.

Cambodia targets online wildlife trade on social media, but experts say it’s not enough

Spoorthy Raman 25 Aug 2026
Xray fin shark (wildlife trade)

Spotted by AI: seahorses and shark fins

Abhishyant Kidangoor 19 Aug 2026
African savannah elephants, the biggest land animals on the planet, are socially advanced and highly intelligent mammals. Image by O’Connell’s & Rodwell.

On ivory, follow the trafficking networks and not the headlines (commentary)

Mary Rice 11 Aug 2026
Chimpanzees at Tacugama

What makes chimpanzee conservation last? Lessons from Sierra Leone

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Aug 2026

Investigation exposes Cambodia’s illegal wildlife trade linked to transnational crime

Mongabay.com 5 Aug 2026
Lithops werneri © Sonja Loots/National Botanical Research Institute of Namibia.

Rare living stone plant, found in a tiny area in Namibia, is critically endangered

Shreya Dasgupta 3 Aug 2026

US declines to protect endangered monkeys used in medical research

Bobby Bascomb 31 Jul 2026

More than 100 queen ants destined for Laos seized in Mexico

Spoorthy Raman 27 Jul 2026

Scientists call on countries to act on ‘forgotten’ sawfish teeth trade

Spoorthy Raman 23 Jul 2026
Tigers in Rajasthan, India. The country is a stronghold of wild tigers, and the report found that most of the wild tigers smuggled into Cambodia came from India.

Report reveals Cambodia’s appetite for tigers, rhinos and other endangered wildlife

Spoorthy Raman 21 Jul 2026
Investigators with Agent C Wildlife Initiative documented a baby pangolin available for sale in Vientiane's Dongmakkhay Market. Pangolins are repeatedly sold for their meat, scales and sometimes for making wine. Image supplied by Agent C Wildlife Initiative.

Laos’s illegal wildlife shops keep growing despite enforcement, investigators find

Gerald Flynn 15 Jul 2026

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