Prince Charles and Prince William are calling upon world leaders to place the battle against wildlife trafficking at the top of the global agenda. At a May 21st, 2013, event in London hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales and the UK government, Prince Charles said: “As a father and a soon-to-be grandfather, I find it inconceivable that our children and grandchildren could live in a world bereft of these animals.
A conservative estimate of pangolin trafficking from 2011 through April 20th, 2013, suggests that more than 100,000 of these small mammals could have been killed in less than three years. Since most illegal wildlife trade is undetected, we based our estimate on seizures reported by the media for the 28-month period — a total of 17,812 pangolins, accounting for scales and parts. Considering that seizures general
The illegal rhino horn trade has claimed the lives of at least 232 rhinos in South Africa during the first 107 days of 2013, according to the Department of Environmental Affairs. While recent arrests and jail sentences have been praised by the Department, research done by fact-checking website Africa Check revealed that the prosecution rate for rhino crimes in South Africa is abysmally low. Between January 2010 and J
Education for Nature-Vietnam — a Vietnamese NGO — is leading the charge to stop the consumption of rhino horn with a campaign to increase negative social attitudes towards rhino horn users. ENV has released a powerful and innovative public service announcement which calls rhino horn users “ignorant, foolish, backward, cruel, and evil”. The video was launched during CITES CoP16 and ENV hopes th
A Chinese fishing vessel which ran aground in Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Philippines, was carrying 400 boxes of frozen pangolins in its cargo hold. Each box reportedly contained 25 to 30 kilograms of pangolins.* The 12 Chinese fishermen aboard the ship were taken into custody on April 8th and are currently being held at the Palawan provincial jail. They were charged with poachin
Last month’s rescue of 104 live pangolins in Thailand has unfortunately turned into a tragedy. According to Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT), the pangolins were left at the police station, packed into plastic crates, without care for more than 29 hours. Although the Thai navy officers who made the arrests tried to help by returning to the police station to cool off the pangolins with water, 40 pangol
The Sumatran rhino crisis is worse than previously thought. The IUCN has released an updated population estimate of “less than 100 individuals”, essentially halving earlier estimates of 180. This devastating news was announced at the Sumatran Rhino Summit convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC), held from March 31st — April 4th, 2013, i
At least 188 rhinos were killed in South Africa during the first quarter of 2013, according to the country’s Department of Environmental Affairs. Of the 188 rhinos, 135 were killed in Kruger National Park, 17 in North West, 16 in KwaZulu-Natal, ten in Limpopo, and ten in Mpumalanga provinces. 63 suspects have been arrested in South Africa since the beginning of 2013 for rhino crimes, although none are at the
Authorities in Malaysia and Thailand have intercepted two illegal shipments of live pangolins in a span of less than 10 days. The first incident occurred on March 19th, when Malaysia’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks seized 133 pangolins at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The pangolins were headed to Vientiane, Laos, and had been declared as “live crabs” by the shipper. No arres
The 16th Conference of the Parties (CoP16) to CITES concluded in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 14th, 2013, with mixed results for the world’s most threatened species. After experiencing the spectacle of a CoP firsthand, I can say with certainty that overcoming the wildlife trade cartels who have exploited the Convention to line their pockets will take some strategic maneuvering! We were proud to add our voice to