Illegal trade News

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The wreathed hornbill, found widespread across South and Southeast Asia, was prominently represented in the seizures

Indonesia’s native hornbills are being hammered by online and offline trade

Spoorthy Raman 9 Jun 2026
Limited recycling capacity and weak monitoring continue to fuel illegal imports and informal e-waste recycling in Bangladesh.

Illegal e-waste trade turns Bangladesh into net importer

Sajibur Rahman 9 Jun 2026
Elephant, Serengeti, Tanzania. Image by sama093 via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Huge ivory bust raises questions about follow-up investigations in Tanzania

Charles Mpaka 8 Jun 2026

The global trafficking ring preying on a rare golden monkey from Brazil

Fernanda Wenzel, Marco Mantovani 1 Jun 2026

27 Moon Bears rescued from illegal Laos bile farm

Naina Rao 1 Jun 2026
Illegal sand and gold mining

Indonesia seizes mercury shipment bound for illegal mines in the Philippines

Anggita Raissa 26 May 2026
Two hoolock gibbon in Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, India. Image by কুমুদ ঘোষ via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

What drives the trafficking of gibbons? Conservationists shed light on demand

Mongabay.com 22 May 2026

Three Thai nationals suspected of smuggling Galápagos iguanas arrested in Ecuador

Spoorthy Raman 21 May 2026

Texas man convicted of buying eagle parts from a wildlife trafficking ring

David Brown 19 May 2026
Jaguars are native to the Americas and are found in 18 countries.

Honduran authorities seize jaguar kept as pet, put spotlight on local trafficking

Spoorthy Raman 14 May 2026
White-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) in Ondo state, Nigeria. Adedotun Ajibade via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Nigeria aims for stronger wildlife protections with sweeping new law

Valentine Benjamin 12 May 2026
The Lear’s macaw had been at the center of two recent wildlife trafficking cases.

Brazil police seize devices from bird expert in trafficking probe linked to Vantara zoo

Fernanda Wenzel 7 May 2026
A Bengal tiger from Rajasthan, India. Poaching is one of the biggest threats to tigers, an endangered cat in Asia.

Facebook is a hub for illegal wildlife trade, and that’s by design, report says

Spoorthy Raman 5 May 2026

Nigeria arrests suspected pangolin trafficking kingpin on the run

Spoorthy Raman 27 Apr 2026
Lanal Banten (Banten Navy Base) displays hundreds of kilograms of pangolin scales seized from a Vietnamese-flagged vessel.

Investigators eye organized crime links in 3-ton pangolin scale haul at Jakarta port

Anggita Raissa 24 Apr 2026
Black rhinos are critically endangered.

Chinese court cases reveal most trafficked rhino horns come from Southern Africa

Spoorthy Raman 21 Apr 2026
Joy as a baby. Image courtesy of Gibbon Conservation Society.

To tackle trafficking in gibbons, experts probe what drives demand

Ana Norman Bermúdez 20 Apr 2026
Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon in 2011. Photo by Rhett Butler.

The Amazon’s silent crime crisis (commentary)

Carlos Nobre, Robert Muggah, Ilona Szabo 15 Apr 2026

Two-month-old bear cubs rescued from Facebook sale in Laos

Naina Rao 14 Apr 2026

Malawi says there’s been no illegal crayfish smuggling for a year

Charles Mpaka 8 Apr 2026
Pangolins are one of the most in-demand wildlife in Asia, used in traditional chinese medicine preparations. After Chinese pangolins plummeted by about 90% in the 2000s, traffickers shifted to African species.

Asia now hub of growing illegal wildlife trade across 100+ countries, study shows

Spoorthy Raman 30 Mar 2026

Zambia seizes half-ton of ivory in major illegal wildlife crime operation

Charles Mpaka 28 Mar 2026
Hooded vultures are small, scruffy-faced vultures native to sub-Saharan Africa.

‘Staggering’ trade for belief-based use drives hooded vultures to near-extinction in Benin

Spoorthy Raman 25 Mar 2026
The endangered Sumatran laughingthrush is another masterbird species threatened by trade. Image by Simon Bruslund

Songbird trade threatens lesser-known ‘master birds’ with secondary extinctions: Study

Sean Mowbray 23 Mar 2026
Officers display pangolin scales intended for smuggling into Cambodia.

Jakarta port authorities seize 3 tons of pangolin scales in Cambodia-bound container

Anggita Raissa 20 Mar 2026
Every year, up to 100 tonnes of glass eels, worth €2.5-3 billion, are smuggled out of Europe.

Eight arrested as Europe cracks down on lucrative eel smuggling syndicates

Spoorthy Raman 19 Mar 2026

Facebook shuts Indonesia groups after Mongabay and Bellingcat report illegal wildlife trade

Achmad Rizki Muazam, Foeke Postma 19 Mar 2026
Juvenile Sumatran orangutans like this are highly sought by traffickers. Image courtesy of Onrizal Onrizal.

Indonesia’s orangutan trafficking cases reveal need for a change in approach (commentary)

Onrizal Onrizal 12 Mar 2026
With striking orange and black streaks on their wings, painted woolly bats are one of the most colorful bats in the world.

U.S.’ hunger for Halloween trinkets is killing Vietnam’s painted woolly bats

Spoorthy Raman 9 Mar 2026

Online ads reveal scale — and gaps — in amphibian pet trade into US

David Brown 27 Feb 2026
A judge watches a cockfight in Peru.

How cockfighting imperils Peru’s critically endangered sawfish

Mongabay.com 27 Feb 2026
A radio-collared slow loris in Bangladesh.

Out of captivity, into conflict: slow lorises struggle to survive after release

Carolyn Cowan 26 Feb 2026

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