Trade in elephant ivory has come to an end in the United Kingdom, following the announcement of a near-total ban that’s meant to put a stop to both legal and illegal trafficking in ivory. Britain’s ban, which took immediate effect Monday, covers ivory of any age rather than restricting the…
Two people from Democratic Republic of Congo have been arrested in the United States for illegal wildlife trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Herdade Lokua, 23, and Jospin Mujangi, 31, both of Kinshasa, were arrested last week in Seattle, Washington. They were indicted by a federal grand jury…
The African forest elephant has been added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, following the announcement Thursday that new genetic evidence means it will be treated as a distinct species separate from the African savanna elephant. The forest elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, is now considered critically endangered because of the…
Thirteen park rangers and drivers have been killed in an ambush attack at Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo Those killed ranged in ages between 23 and 40, according to updated totals from the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, while another four civilians died. The…
South African police chief General Khehla Sithole has pledged a comprehensive investigation after the “senseless” killing of decorated anti-poaching officer Lt Col Leroy Brewer. Brewer, 49, was driving to work in Mbombela around 6:30 am on Tuesday, March 17, when he was ambushed and shot by an undetermined number of gunmen…
A massive effort to shut down illegal wildlife crime has resulted in almost 600 arrests across 109 countries, according to INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization (WCO). The Operation Thunderball mission conducted during the month of June led to 1,828 seizures of illegally traded ivory and pangolin scales, live plants and…
Authorities in Singapore say they’ve seized what is the largest illegal shipment of pangolin scales in the world in recent years, after discovering almost 13 tons in a container en route from Nigeria to Vietnam. Customs officials along with the National Parks Board inspected a 40-foot container at the Pasir…
An op-ed on maintaining protections against the illegal wildlife trade is getting lots of attention in the United States. It’s not just because of its stance against rollbacks from the President Donald Trump administration or the commitment to work with groups like the Elephant Project – but rather, because of…