India to Spend US$150 Mn to Save Tigers
New Delhi, India, Jan 31, 2008 (Reuters) - India will spend an estimated 6 billion rupees (US$150 million) over the next five years in an attempt to save its endangered tigers, the cabinet said on Wednesday.  The number of tigers in India has plummeted to between 1,300 to 1,500 from about 40,000 a century ago, according to provisional government survey results, as humans either kill them for their body parts or encroach on their habitat.  India's tiger conservation authority had a budget of only 1.5 billion rupees for the previous five years.

Caviar export quota undermines harvesting ban
Russia, Jan 31, 2008 (WWF Press Release) - Russia's application for a caviar export quota makes nonsense of a commercial caviar harvesting ban intended to help the recovery of the decimated sturgeon populations of the Caspian Sea basin, WWF Russia has claimed.

Customs officers seize hundreds of headless rats destined for London restaurants
London, England, Jan 29, 2008 (Daily Mail) - Customs officers have seized hundreds of headless rats which were being smuggled to London so African diners could crunch into their bones and flesh.  Hundreds of rat corpses - which had been smoked to improve their flavour - were found at Tilbury Docks, in London.  The grisly discovery was made by customs officials as they made a routine inspection of a shipment of synthetic hair at the docks.

Rare victory for Madagascar tortoises
Antananarivo, Madagascar, Jan 28, 2008 (BBC) - Conservationists are celebrating a double victory over tortoise smugglers in Madagascar. Earlier this month, a Nigerian man was arrested with 300 tortoises and another 20 have been returned to their habitat after being seized on a neighbouring island.

Wild-meat dhaba raided
Bangalore, India, Jan 28, 2008 (TNN) - The CID Forest Cell sleuths on Sunday afternoon raided a highway eatery on Chikkaballapur Main Road towards Bagepalli, and recovered four live reptiles, seven dead ones and two lizards, which were on the kitchen chopping board. The raid has exposed a wildlife trade thriving in at least eight dhabas situated on the same stretch. During interrogation, the dhaba owner confessed to receiving wild animals from the Hakki Pikki tribes from Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district.

Woman jailed for cooking tiger carcass
Vietnam, Jan 28, 2008 (CNN) -- A Vietnamese woman caught cooking a tiger carcass was sentenced to two and a half years in jail, state media reported Thursday. A Hanoi court convicted Nguyen Thi Thanh, 41, for "violating regulations protecting rare wild animals."  She was arrested last September after police raided a house that she rented in the capital city of Hanoi and found dead tigers, bear arms, monkey bones and elephant tusks. The woman told police she sold the animals' bone marrow for 6.5 million Vietnamese dong ($400) per gram to traditional medicine men, according to reports at the time. …Last year, the Vietnamese government unearthed 38 cases of illegal trafficking that involved 503 endangered animals, local media said at the time.

Govt to issue fresh guidelines to tourists
New Delhi, India, Jan 27, 2008 (TNN) - The Centre is preparing fresh guidelines to create awareness among tourists, both domestic and international, against purchasing wildlife souvenirs made from endangered species.  Fresh guidelines are being prepared by the Tourism Ministry on behalf of the Ministry of Environment with an aim to create awareness among tourists against buying wildlife souvenirs like tiger teeth, elephant ivory carvings or turtle shell accessories.

Poaching in Kenya may increase because of crisis: NGO
Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 24, 2008 (AFP) - The crisis in Kenya's tourism industry caused by the post-election violence there and the subsequent collapse in tourism could mean more people turn to poaching, conservationists warned Thursday.

Cameroon rescues 1,200 parrots from trafficking: group
Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 23, 2008 (AFP) — Cameroon wildlife authorities have rescued at least 1,200 African Grey parrots being trafficked to Bahrain and Mexico for the exotic pet trade, an animal welfare group said on Thursday.  Kenya-based Wildlife Direct said Cameroon's ministry of forests and wildlife intercepted two shipments at Douala International Airport that were carrying the parrots to their destination. It did not give the day they were intercepted, but said the birds are currently being cared for at Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC), situated in the small fishing town of Limbe at the foot of Mount Cameroon.

Cuba bans marine turtle hunt
Havana, Cuba, Jan 23, 2008 (Reuters) - Cuba has banned the hunting of marine turtles endangered in the Caribbean by the illegal trade in shells used to make combs, an official said on Tuesday.  …The ban took effect this weekend, said the Cuban Fisheries Ministry's director of regulations, Elisa Garcia. She said it would remain in effect "until it is scientifically proven that the species is recovering."

African Refugees Spurring Bush-Meat Trade
Washington, USA, Jan 22, 2008 (National Geographic News) - A booming illegal trade in wild animal meat inside refugee camps in Tanzania is putting wildlife populations and rural communities at risk, according to a new report.  The demand is driven partly by the absence of meat in rations provided by aid agencies, which some experts say represents a failure of relief organizations to meet the basic needs of their charges.  Many East African refugees are accustomed to regular consumption of meat as a source of protein, according to the report issued by TRAFFIC, the international wildlife-trade monitoring network.

Related News:

Search for "night time spinach" threatens wildlife, local livelihoods
22 Jan 2008 (WWF)

India launches anti-poaching force to curb tiger, wildlife trade
New Delhi, India, 23 Jan 2008 (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) - India has opened a national wildlife crime control bureau to curb poaching of tigers and other endangered species, officials said Wednesday. The federal forests ministry said the agency, a multi-disciplinary force comprising of experts from the police, environmental agencies and revenue department, will aim to "reduce the demand for wildlife and its products."

Bid to end rare otter fur trade
UK, Jan 21, 2008 (BBC News) - A charity is working to help end the illegal killing of rare otters in south east Asia and the trade in their furs. Scottish-based Furget-Me-Not is backed by the Skye-based International Otter Survival Fund (Isof).  The first area to be targeted is Cambodia, where Asian small-clawed, smooth-coated and the rare hairy-nosed otters are caught for their pelts.

Snakes on a plane: Vietnam seizes thousands of live reptiles
Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan 18, 2008 (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) - Vietnamese customs officials found a slithery surprise in the cargo hold of a commercial flight - 1.4 tonnes of live snakes, some of them poisonous, an official said Friday. The reptiles, packed in 60 crates and labeled "fresh fish," were discovered Thursday when the cargo from a Vietnam Airlines flight from Bangkok was being inspected, according to Dao Van Lien, head of customs at Hanoi's Noi Bai Airport.

American turtle threatens wildlife
Australia, Jan 17, 2008 (Australian Associated Press) - Conservationists fear an American turtle rated among the world's most invasive species has infiltrated Australian waterways after one was discovered in south-east Queensland.  A red-eared slider turtle, native to the Gulf of Mexico, was handed in at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast after it was discovered in a local waterway.  …Red-eared sliders can be imported into Australia only with a permit, but they are popular among illegal pet traders.

2 held over smuggling endangered primates
Japan, Jan 17, 2008 (The Yomiuri Shimbun) - Police arrested two men Wednesday on suspicion of smuggling slow lorises, a rare primate the Washington Convention listed last year as an endangered species and whose international trade has been banned.

Chinese Smugglers Caught With Endangered Sea Turtle Shell
Denver, USA, Jan 11, 2008 (ENS) - Guitar picks and violin bows made from the shells of endangered hawksbill sea turtles plus several pounds of raw hawksbill shell sent to the United States from China were intercepted by U.S. authorities, who busted a group of Chinese nationals and charged them with smuggling.

Hanoi zoo auctions dead tigers to alleged animal trafficker in violation of convention
Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan 10, 2007 (AP) - The Hanoi Zoo violated Vietnamese and international regulations by auctioning off the carcasses of two dead tigers to an alleged animal trafficker, a zoo official said Thursday. Hoping to raise money to buy new animals, the zoo sold the carcass of a 1-year-old tiger in November after the animal died of disease, Dang Gia Tung, the zoo's deputy director, told The Associated Press.

Related News:

Vietnamese zoo auctioned tiger bodies to traffickers
Hanoi, Vietnam, Jan 10, 2008 (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)

SE Asia's illegal pet trade threatens turtles: experts
Kuala Lumpur, Jan 8, 2008 (AFP) - A surge in demand for exotic freshwater turtles and tortoises in Southeast Asia is fuelling rampant illegal trade in the animals in Indonesia, wildlife experts warned Tuesday.  TRAFFIC Southeast Asia said its investigators discovered that 48 species of freshwater turtles and tortoises were sold in Indonesia's capital Jakarta and the vast majority were illegally obtained.

Vancouver company convicted in Queen conch case, fined $78,000
Vancouver, Jan 8, 2008 (Environment Canada Press Release @ CNW Telbec) - On January 4, 2008, Pacific Marine Union Corporation of Vancouver, British Columbia entered a guilty plea in Vancouver Provincial Court to two counts under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA) and was fined a total of $78,566.94 - of which $10,000 will be paid into the Environmental Damages Fund. …The charges were a result of Operation Shell Game, an 18-month long investigation into the unlawful import and export of Queen conch. This investigation involved federal wildlife officers in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia as well as Special Agents from both the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Law Enforcement in New York and Florida.

Vietnam police find two live tigers in a car in Hanoi
Hanoi, Jan 8, 2008 (AFP) — Vietnamese police came face-to-face with two live tigers they found in a passenger car in central Hanoi when they busted an illegal wildlife trafficking gang this week, media reports said Wednesday.  …When they searched the traffickers' homes on the outskirts of Hanoi, police found four more tigers cut up in a freezer, seven live bears and bear parts, rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks, the An Ninh Thu Do newspaper said.

CID forest cell looks for MP poacher
Bangalore, Jan 8, 2008 (Times of India) - On one day, in less than 12 hours, wildlife poacher Durra shot six adult leopards using [a puppy as bait]. A special squad of the CID forest cell has been sent to Madhya Pradesh to nab Durra, a Pardhi tribe member staying at Birahuli village in Rithi police limits, for leopard poaching in Haliyal and Dandeli.  Durra is also wanted by the Gujarat and MP police for his involvement in Gir lion poaching, as well as killing tigers and leopards in Madhya Pradesh.

In Rasuwa, Langtang National Park has slapped jail and fine on four wildlife smugglers (second part of article titled “Cops Seize English Pistol”)
Kathmandu, Jan 8, 2008 (The Rising Nepal) – Four wildlife traffickers have been sentenced for smuggling animal skins and tiger bones across Tibet, from Langtang National Park in Nepal.  Two were sentenced to 15 years in jail and Rs 100,000 fine each, and two were sentenced to 5 years in prison. The article reports that “this is the biggest ever sentence slapped on wildlife smugglers involved in trade in wildlife in the park.”

Uganda: Ebola Scare As Dead Monkeys Found in Bundibugyo
Kampala, Uganda, Jan 6, 2008 (The Monitor) - The discovery of eight dead monkeys in the Rwenzori National Park in Bundibugyo District has again caused more fears and tension among locals who are just coming to terms with the Ebola outbreak that ravaged the area and is said to have been brought to the area by infected monkeys. District leaders and the health workers are suspecting that the monkeys may have been suffering from another virus but are all the same carrying out investigations.

Chinese National Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Protected Sea Turtles
Washington, Jan 3, 2008 (U.S. Department of Justice Press Release) - Wang Hong, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to a felony count of smuggling in connection with his sale and shipment of internationally protected sea turtle shell and sea turtle shell products from China to the United States, the Justice Department announced. Wang, co-defendant Stephen Cheng of China, and nine others were indicted in Denver in August 2007 following a multi-year undercover investigation conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Branch of Special Operations. Wang and seven other defendants were arrested on Sept. 6, 2007.  … Based on the statutory and advisory sentencing guideline factors, the sentencing range is 6-12 months of imprisonment and a fine of $2,000-$20,000. Sentencing is set for Feb. 19, 2008.

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