Unlocking a Mystery: Elephant tusks from half a world away present a trunkful of clues in Ashland
Ashland, Oregon, Apr 27, 2008 (Mail Tribune) - A metal trunk rests on a sterilized table ready for forensic surgery, its four padlocks standing between men in protective suits and the elements of death and international smuggling that lie inside.  Originally shipped from Lusaka, Zambia, the trunk is one of four that spent nearly three years crisscrossing global shipping routes in a laundering attempt by a string of faceless importers trying to sneak them into Laos. … This small, isolated room was built last year inside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Forensics Laboratory in Ashland for just such a trunk. The lab's scientists are just the right people to peek inside.

Thailand a hub for illegal turtle trade
Bangkok, Apr 25, 2008 (Asia-Pacific News) - Bangkok's Chatuchak weekend market is a major hub for the illegal trade in freshwater turtles and tortoises, according to a report released Friday by TRAFFIC, the wildlife monitoring network.

Mexican man jailed 16 months for selling sea turtle skins
Washington, DC, Apr 25, 2008 (AFP) — A Mexican man was sentenced Friday to 16 months in prison in the United States for smuggling sea turtle skins and boots, belts and shoes made out of internationally protected turtle species. Carlos Leal Barragan was arrested in September after an undercover investigation by the US Fish and Wildlife Service on illegal sales of sea turtle parts from China and Mexico. Leal Barragan sent three shipments worth 30,000 dollars containing about 360 sea turtle skin pieces as well as boots, belts and shoes from Mexico to undercover Fish and Wildlife agents in Colorado last year, the US Department of Justice said.

Souvenirs that endanger SA wildlife
South Africa, Apr 21, 2008 (Independent Online) - Elephant hair bracelets, shark tooth earrings and lampshades crafted from porcupine quills are all novel souvenirs increasingly being snapped up by tourists. But the trade in these keepsakes is deadly for South Africa's wildlife. Now the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) is hoping its "Think Twice - Don't Buy Wildlife Souvenirs" campaign will encourage international visitors to halt the "rampant killing of wildlife" for curios.  The conservation group is targeting tourists passing through South Africa's airports, where it will air the 30-second infomercial, which begins with an image of dead wildlife circulating on a luggage carousel.

Stopping Elephant Poaching in Southeast Cameroon
Buea, Cameroon, Apr 18, 2008 (The Post) - Game rangers in Yokadouma, East Province of Cameroon, recently confiscated 13 elephant tusks and made some arrests. The tusks were tucked away in a timber truck.  …TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network recently cited Cameroon among three countries in the Central Africa sub region most heavily implicated in trafficking illicit ivory to international markets.

'Act now' to save India's tigers
Brusssels, Apr 16, 2008 (BBC) - The European Parliament has called for a new strategy to prevent the tiger from becoming extinct.  …"Recent figures show... by 2025 the tiger may be extinct," Neena Gill, president of the European Parliament's India delegation, said.  Ms Gill's office said that one of the chief causes of the declining numbers of tigers is the presence of "tiger trafficking mafias" in Asia who are poaching Indian tigers, trafficking skins and body parts across Nepal and the Himalayan region to China.

More money needed to care for animals: Wildlife seized from traffickers sent to centres which need bigger budgets, say officials
Bangkok, Thailand, Apr 13, 2008 (Bangkok Post) - Wildlife authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to take care of wild animals seized from traffickers, especially Asiatic black bears, due to a shortage of funds. …More than 20,000 wild animals were confiscated from illegal traders over the past three years, and 80% of the seized animals were either birds or turtles.  …The department has to look after them until the cases against the traffickers are closed, which sometimes can take up to 10 years.  …''We have to spend over 18 million baht to buy food and medical treatment for these animals each year, but the budget we receive annually is only eight million baht.''

Tycoons buying endangered animals as 'status symbols'
Miri, Malaysia, 13 Apr, 2008 (The Star) - Powerful towkays in Sarawak cities are paying good money to native trappers to capture endangered animals to put on display in their homes as “status symbols.”  Their demand has resulted in an increasingly active black market in exotic wildlife in certain parts of Sarawak, according to information received by environmental-conservation and native rights group Borneo Resources Institute.

Biodiversity for Sale on the Streets
Mexico City, Apr 12, 2008 (Tierramérica) - Trafficking of wildlife in Mexico is threatening to drive many species to extinction long before 2030. Nevertheless, the government believes by that year Mexico will remain one of the world's five most biologically diverse countries.  Half of the 22 species of multicolour and green parrots are in danger of extinction, and just 300 mating pairs of scarlet macaws (Ara macao) remain, according to official documents. But these birds are sold at markets in the capital and other Mexican cities, almost in plain view.

Republic of Indonesia, UNODC hold meeting on combating illicit trafficking in forest products
Jakarta, Indonesia, Apr 11, 2008 (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and the United Nations’ drugs and crime agency UNODC organized an international experts group meeting on International Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Illicit International Trafficking in Forest Products, in Jakarta, recently. The forest products included timber, wildlife and other forest biological resources, according to a press statement of the Indonesian forestry ministry here on Friday.  The meeting was attended by 47 experts from 15 member countries and observers from ASEAN-WEN, AFP, FLEGT, UNEP, UNFF, World Bank, and CIFOR.  In the two-day meeting officially opened by Indonesian Forestry Minsiter MS Kaban on March 26, the participants emphasized the importance of international cooperation in combating and preventing illicit international trafficking in forest products.

Vietnam launch bear rescue centre
Hanoi, Vietnam, Apr 10, 2008 (ITN/Channel 4 [UK]) - A new sanctuary for endangered bears abused by traffickers has been opened in Vietnam.  Thousands of the animals are farmed illegally for their bile which is used in traditional medicines. The centre, near the capital of Hanoi, has capacity for over 100 bears and is the first of its kind in the country.

Love for bushmeat: India's rare species at risk
India, Apr 10, 2008 (One World – South Asia) - Musk-deer jerky, rice garnished with boiled macaque, roasted porcupine and marbled cat curry....  Culinary adventurousness might be the last quality anybody would associate with the Indian palate, yet these are just a few of the innumerable locally consumed and relished delicacies concocted out of the meat of endangered wild animals inhabiting India's shrinking protected forest areas.  Covering just under five per cent of the country's landmass, these spots boast an incredibly rich biodiversity. Unfortunately, due to corruption and woefully poor enforcement, all the mammals, birds and reptiles that inhabit them are sitting ducks, easy game for the tables of everyone from the rich and powerful to subsistence farmers and forest dwellers.

Reef fish face extinction as many end up on dinner tables
Malaysia, Apr 8, 2008 (The Star) - Hundreds of fish cages bob up and down in the waters of Marudu Bay, off Kudat in Sabah. In these cages are sought-after marine delicacies such as groupers, lobsters and crabs, as well as a staggering number of humphead wrasses. From the massive number of humpheads holed up in the floating pens, it is impossible to tell that this is a fish species classed as “endangered” by the IUCN-World Conservation Union and whose trade is governed by the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

Wildlife crime syndicate exposed
Sydney, Australia, Apr 7, 2008 (ABC Radio [Australia]) - Authorities believe they are on the verge of cracking a sophisticated organised wildlife crime syndicate, operating in South East Asia. The breakthrough follows a recent seizure of dead tigers and leopards, found on the Thai Laos border.  Follow this link for a transcript or audio recording of an interview with Sue Liberman of the World Wildlife Fund and Chris Shepherd, senior South East Asia program officer with the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

Effect of the Bangkok bust
Malaysia, Apr 6, 2008 (New Strait Times) - The trade in wildlife meat and pets, as well as exotic flowers and plants, may one day be eliminated. An inter-governmental initiative which brings together law enforcers in the region to combat illegal wildlife trade is slowly but surely making headway.

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