Illegal trade News

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Contraband goods seized by the border guard in Vinh Long province, southern Vietnam. Image courtesy of Xuan Loc/Tuổi Trẻ.

Authorities in Vietnam bust wildlife smugglers with tons of rare animal parts

Shanna Hanbury 9 Oct 2025
Palm civet in a wildlife farm in Dong Nai Province, Viet Nam. Image courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

New global guidelines needed to rein in the wildlife pet trade (commentary)

Elizabeth Bennett 7 Oct 2025
Coquerel's sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) in a tree.

Urban appetite for lemur meat piles pressure on iconic primates

Mino Rakotovao 1 Oct 2025
African gray parrot. Image by Robert01 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

DRC finally moves to protect African gray parrots from unsustainable trade

Dider Makal 23 Sep 2025
A dehorned white rhino with her calf. Image courtesy of Tim Kuiper.

Protecting rhinos more urgent than ever this World Rhino Day

Mongabay.com 22 Sep 2025
Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica

Controlling wildlife crime saves more than species (commentary)

Kumar Paudel 10 Sep 2025
White-bellied pangolin on a tree.

In southeast Nigeria, pangolins hunted for meat, not scales, study finds

Spoorthy Raman 10 Sep 2025
IBAMA officers watch a camp on fire.

Brazil can green its environmental crime-fighting in the Amazon (commentary)

Anna Gielas 4 Sep 2025
A Sumatran rhino with a four-day-old calf. This critically endangered species is the smallest of all rhinos, with an estimated 34-47 individuals surviving in the wild.

Latest rhino assessment finds two species recovering, but three continue to decline

Spoorthy Raman 3 Sep 2025

New model reveals hidden dynamics of Indonesia’s booming songbird trade

Basten Gokkon 2 Sep 2025
A female tiger. Tigers were among the first few species added to CITES Appendix I in 1975 to halt the illegal trade of tigers and their parts.

US proposes zero new protections for traded wildlife at upcoming CITES CoP

Spoorthy Raman 18 Aug 2025

New report warns 54% of turtles and tortoises are at risk of extinction

Liz Kimbrough 15 Aug 2025
Although operations like Green Shield are useful, experts say that they are not the solution for combatting illicit activities in the Amazon in the long run, as activities such as illegal mining continue to expand. Image courtesy of the UAE Ministry of Interior.

Formalizing small-scale gold mining can reduce environmental impacts & crime (commentary)

Robert Muggah 7 Aug 2025
mining equipment on fire

Cross-border operation cracks down on environmental crimes in the Amazon

Mie Hoejris Dahl 6 Aug 2025
Display and sale of fish maw during a cultural festival in Singapore.

Upmarket fish maw trade in Singapore & Malaysia includes endangered species: Study

Keith Anthony Fabro 6 Aug 2025
A loggerhead hatchling in Boa vista. Image courtesy of The Turtle Foundation.

Former poachers guard Cabo Verde’s endangered sea turtles

Sonam Lama Hyolmo 4 Aug 2025

Uncovering forest loss in gorilla park six months after M23 offensive in the DRC

Elodie Toto, Latoya Abulu 31 Jul 2025
Birds captured by traders at a temple in Nepal. Image by Abhaya Raj Joshi/ Mongabay

Illegal pet trade in Nepal now shifting online, research suggests

Abhaya Raj Joshi 31 Jul 2025
A leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).

Malaysia’s turtle egg buyback scheme saved thousands — but is it sustainable?

Keith Anthony Fabro 31 Jul 2025
A critically endangered Philippine pangolin and its pup. The demand for their scales has resulted in Pangolins being the most trafficked mammals.

To save pangolins, we need to change the narrative (commentary)

Araluen Schunmann 28 Jul 2025
Thai authorities seized more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of ivory hidden in luggage shipped out from Congo to Laos via Bangkok in 2015.

Large-scale illegal wildlife shops in Laos found scamming Chinese tourists

Mongabay.com 22 Jul 2025
Mamiraua reserve. Image courtesy of Thiago A. Lacerda via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Community patrols can slash environmental crime by 80% (commentary)

Caetano Franco 21 Jul 2025
A male proboscis monkey with its characteristic long nose. The species is classified as endangered and is already threatened by habitat destruction, wildfires and hunting.

Study finds worrying uptick in proboscis monkey trade in Indonesia

Spoorthy Raman 18 Jul 2025
Yunhua Lin, left, at the court in Malawi in 2021. Image courtesy of EIA.

‘Shock and alarm’ as Malawi pardons wildlife trafficker Lin Yunhua

Madalitso Wills Kateta 16 Jul 2025
Data from transmitters helped the team identify corridors that are critical for the movements of the thick-billed parrots, which are endangered birds endemic to Mexico.

How drug cartels destroy the last habitat of Mexico’s thick-billed parrot (commentary)

Andrew-James Anthony 14 Jul 2025
A leopard in Panna National Park, India.

‘Forgotten’ leopards being driven to silent extinction by poaching and trade

Spoorthy Raman 26 Jun 2025
A mimic poison frog (Ranitomeya imitator).

EU remains major wildlife trafficking hub, report finds

Keith Anthony Fabro 23 Jun 2025
Glass eels are a juvenile form of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), a species that undergoes an incredible 10,000 kilometer (6,200 mile) migration. Photo courtesy of Alessandro Cresci.

Glass eel smuggling booms despite bans, leaving species on the brink

Keith Anthony Fabro 23 Jun 2025
Waziri Mpogo harvests sea cucumbers at his ranch in Tanzania's Mafia Island. Image by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay.

Tanzania’s Mafia Island eyes sea cucumber farming to prevent extinction

Mongabay.com 19 Jun 2025

Artificial nests help a rare Brazilian parrot bounce back

Mongabay.com 16 Jun 2025
A shortfin mako

Endangered shark trophies dominate the online wildlife trade, study finds

Spoorthy Raman 11 Jun 2025
A southern white rhino explores its surrounding after translocation from South Africa to Rwanda's Akagera National Park. Image © Gael Vande Weghe.

Seventy southern white rhinos arrive at their new home in Rwanda from South Africa

Graeme Green 10 Jun 2025

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