4,000 live reptiles rescued in biggest global raid of its kind – via Herp Digest

Police nabbed suspected traffickers in airports, breeding centers, and pet stores across 22 countries.

By Dina Fine Maron National Geographic/UK, 6/5/19

More than 4,000 live reptiles, including six Kenyan sand boa snakes found in air cargo in the United States, have been seized as part of Operation Blizzard, a global law enforcement bust targeting reptile traders.

Global police forces have carried off the largest reptile trade bust to date, arresting 12 suspects and seizing more than 4,000 live reptiles at airports, breeding facilities, and pet stores across Europe, North America, and elsewhere throughout April and May.

The initiative, dubbed Operation Blizzard—a play on words referring to the deluge of activity around lizards—was coordinated by Interpol and Europol in response to the illegal trade in snakes, turtles, and other protected reptiles. Trafficking of these animals is threatening some species with extinction and also fuelling disease outbreaks among humans. 

The exotic reptile trade has exploded in the past two decades, with millions of the animals now imported—legally and illegally—into the European Union and United States as household pets. Some reptiles are also coveted for their skins, made into high-end fashion items such as shoes, belts, and handbags. (Learn more: The Exotic pet trade, explained.)

Few protections exist for reptiles: Only about 8 percent of the roughly 10,000 species are included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the international treaty that regulates the commercial trade of wildlife across national borders.

As part of Operation Blizzard, law enforcement agencies in 22 countries—including New Zealand, Italy, Spain, South Africa, and the U.S.—scoured intelligence reports, cross-referenced earlier cases, monitored social media, and conducted targeted inspections of breeding facilities, says Sergio Tirro, a project manager for environmental crime at Europol who helped collect intelligence for the operation. Sharing intel across borders allowed them to identify more than 180 suspects.

“This operation clearly demonstrates the value of international cooperation” says Chris Shepherd, executive director of Monitor, a nonprofit organisation in British Columbia, Canada, dedicated to combating illegal wildlife trade. “It also illustrates the scale of this massive and well-organised trade.”

Six arrests have already been made in Italy and another six in Spain, with further arrests and prosecutions expected, according to a statement from Interpol. In one case, according to Europol, an airline passenger had 75 live turtles in his luggage without any of the required paperwork. (Read more about the illegal turtle trade.)

“Generally, our main target is a not a single passenger or individual—our focus is organised crime groups behind the illegal trade,” Tirro says. Still, many of the individuals identified were small-scale participants rather than organised crime leaders, he notes, adding that law enforcement hopes this work will help them build cases against top-tier people who are coordinating the illegal trade.

The seizures included more than 20 crocodiles and alligators, six Kenyan sand boa snakes found in air cargo in the U.S., and 150 items made from reptile skins—including handbags, watchstraps, traditional medicines, and taxidermied products. Although the main focus of the operation was on reptiles, law enforcement also nabbed other animals and wildlife products: live owls, falcons, swans, elephant ivory, bushmeat.

Nine reptiles being smuggled from Washington State into British Columbia were seized in Canada, says Sheldon Jordan, who heads up the wildlife crime unit of Environment and Climate Change Canada. Three of those animals had died in transit, underscoring how deadly the illegal wildlife trade can be, he says. Operation Blizzard was conducted at this time of year because most reptile trading in the northern hemisphere takes place during the spring and summer months, when these cold-blooded animals are more likely to stay warm enough to survive, Jordan says.

Seizing 4,000 reptiles is significant, Shepherd notes, but “there are millions of reptiles being illegally traded every year,” and the market for these creatures keeps growing. Dismantling the well-organised networks that orchestrate the reptile trade and working with the countries where these animals are stolen from the wild, he says, are essential.

Colombian breeds rare frogs to undermine animal traffickers - via Herp Digest

By Manuel Rueda and Cesar Garcia, AP 5/24/19

CUNDINAMARCA, COLOMBIA

In a small farmhouse surrounded by cloud forest, Iván Lozano inspects dozens of glass containers that hold some of the world's most coveted frogs.

The conservationist has been fighting the illegal trade in rare tropical frogs for years, risking his life and his checkbook to save the brightly colored, poisonous amphibians whose population in the wild is dwindling

.

But Lozano doesn't hunt down poachers and smugglers. He's trying to undermine them by breeding exotic frogs legally and selling them at lower prices than specimens plucked by traffickers from Colombia's jungles. His frog-breeding center Tesoros de Colombia, which translates to Treasures of Colombia, is among a handful of conservation programs around the world that are trying to curtail the trafficking of wild animals by providing enthusiasts with a more eco-friendly alternative: specimens bred in captivity.

"We can't control the fact that in some countries it is legal to own these animals," Lozano said. "But we want to make sure that collectors buy animals that are raised in captivity and are legally exported."

Lozano's efforts to replace illegally captured poison dart frogs have made him well known among collectors in the United States, who are increasingly seeking legally traded specimens.

"Before there was no way you could get a histrionica legally," said Julio Rodríguez, an experienced New York City collector, referring to the Harlequin Poison Frog by its scientific name. "If you saw one in a collection, it most likely came from the black market.”

Rodríguez said that since Tesoros de Colombia began exporting frogs to the United States six years ago prices for some coveted species have dropped significantly. The price tag on the Harlequin Frog dropped by 50 percent, he said. 

The Golden Dart Frog, another much-sought species, went from around $150 a few years ago to $30.

"We want prices to go down so much that it's no longer profitable for traffickers to sell these frogs," Lozano explained.

He said his company also helps collectors breed their own frogs, so they can flood the market with legally raised specimens, taking pressure off those living in the wild. The frogs raised in captivity by Lozano are no longer poisonous, because they have a different diet than wild specimens. But collectors still seek them for their brilliant color patterns.

"We make ourselves sustainable by moving on to new species," said Lozano, who already has permits to export seven species, including the Red Lehmanni, a frog so rare collectors refer to it as "the Holy Grail." Lozano is currently seeking permission from Colombia's government to export another 13 species that are under pressure from animal traffickers.

But while some breeding efforts have helped to tackle the illegal trade, others have had unintended consequences.

Indonesia allows the export of 3 million captive-bred Tokay Geckos to global pet markets each year. But weak regulation has given corrupt companies the opportunity to sell off wild Geckos as Geckos bred in captivity, said Chris Shepherd a conservationist who worked in South East Asia for two decades with TRAFFIC, an environmental group.

Laura Tensen, a zoologist at the University of Johannesburg, said in South Africa, private game reserves that breed lions for hunting have created a new market for lion bones. South Africa now exports lion skeletons to Asia, where they are used for traditional medicine, and this has given poachers in remote regions an additional incentive to go after wild lions.

"For some species captive breeding might help" to reduce trafficking, Tensen said. "But one market does not always replace the other.”

In a 2016 study, Tensen concluded that captive breeding programs are more likely to work when animals bred in captivity are just as desirable to customers as those taken from the wild. These programs are also more successful with species that are relatively cheap to breed and in countries where authorities are arresting traffickers.

"In countries where the risks of being caught are low, the prices for wild caught animals are always less than those of captive bred animals," Shepherd said.

Lozano assigns ID numbers to his frogs, to make it harder for traffickers to sell wild frogs as frogs bred in captivity. But he has struggled to keep prices low because of the costs associated with securing export permits from the Colombian government.

It took Lozano three years to secure his first export permit, exasperating two business partners, who eventually gave up on the venture. Lozano continued on his own and acquired a debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the breeding center afloat.

He has also battled online critics who have tried to undermine his business by spreading rumors on social media that he is illegally exporting frogs. Lozano believes the criticism comes from animal traffickers.

"For our own safety, we try not to disclose details of our location," he said.

Lozano now wants to start a program to repopulate some forests with frogs bred in his lab.

Colombia is home to 734 frog species, more than any other country except Brazil. The Humboldt Institute, an environmental research group, says at least 160 amphibian species in Colombia are critically endangered.

"This is an urgent situation," Lozano said. "If we don't persist some frogs could become extinct.”

Animal trafficking: Wildlife trade crisis talks held

By Rebecca Morelle

Science reporter, BBC World Service

A total of 1,004 white rhinos were poached last year in South Africa

Experts from around the world are gathering in London to discuss "the global crisis" in the wildlife trade.

Conservationists say animal trafficking is reaching unprecedented levels and species such as rhinos, elephants and tigers are under threat of extinction.

The aim of the meeting, hosted by the Zoological Society of London, is to find new ways to protect animals and reduce demand for wildlife products.

An action plan will be fed into another meeting hosted by the UK government.

continued

Special team flies to Bangkok to care for Critically Endangered Ploughshare tortoises

Conservation charity vets head to Thailand following the largest ever seizure of ploughshare tortoises - the most threatened tortoise in the world.

June 2013. This week Tsanta Fiderana, Malagasy veterinary officer for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust will travel to Bangkok on behalf of the Madagascar CITES management body as part of a joint mission with Dr. Paul Gibbons and Maurice Rodrigues of the Turtle Conservancy to assess the health of ploughshare tortoises recently trafficked out of Madagascar in a suitcase. In addition to tending to the health of the confiscated tortoises, the team will also be creating new enclosures that can be used for future confiscations of turtles and tortoises.

World's most threatened tortoise

The ploughshare is the most threatened tortoise in the world and is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), forbidding any trade in the species. However the tortoise is highly prized as a pet, especially in South East Asia, and illegal trade is now the biggest threat to the species' survival.

Largest ever seizure

Fifty-four ploughshare tortoises and 21 radiated tortoises were found by Thai police in a suitcase at Bangkok International Airport on 15th March 2013. This is the largest ever seizure of ploughshare tortoises made up of 53 juveniles and one sub-adult tortoise. A Thai man and a Malagasy woman were arrested.

Continued

890 rare Star toroises seized at Bangkok airport

Tortoises openly on sale in Bangkok market
September 2012. A suitcase filled with 890 Indian Star Tortoises has been seized, and an Indian national arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International airport. Acting on a tip off, Tourist Police and Royal Thai Customs officers stopped the 26-year-old man who attempted to smuggle the tortoises into the country on a Thai Airways flight from Calcutta to Bangkok, on Monday 27th August.

The tortoises, all juveniles, were found stuffed into six pillow cases and hidden inside the suspect's suitcase.

Demand as a pet
The Indian Star Tortoise is highly prized as an exotic pet and remains a target for collection and trade despite being afforded legal protection across the species range countries of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. All three countries have banned the species's international commercial export under national legislation, making all shipments from these countries illegal anywhere in the world.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/star-tortoise-sale.html

Lorises Allegedly Found In Underwear Of Smuggler In Delhi Airport

Three men were arrested after one was allegedly caught with a small primate stuffed in his underwear at an Indian airport.

Hamad Al-Dhaheri, Mohammed Al-Shamsi and Rashid Al-Shamsi are accused of smuggling slender lorises, chipmunk-sized primates that are frequently trafficked to be sold as pets, The Hindu reports.

The men were apprehended at an airport in Delhi while en route from Bangkok to Dubai, after a routine pat-down revealed a suspicious bulge that turned out to be one of the big-eyed critters.

Which of the three men was allegedly had the primate in his pants is unclear. A second animal was found abandoned in a nearby trash can, CNN reports.

The condition of the lorises was "OK, but deteriorating," a customs official told the BBC. Both animals were put in the custody of wildlife authorities and are now being treated at a hospital.

The slender loris is a nocturnal animal native to the rainforests India and Sri Lanka. Its cousin, the slow loris, became an Internet sensation in 2009, when a YouTube user uploaded a video of a slow loris being tickled.

Both types of lorises are threatened by poachers who capture them as infants animals to be traded as pets. Because slow lorises have venomous teeth, poachers remove them, a process that sentences many animals to death via infection. Still more lorises die during transportation to market.

Continued:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/10/lorises-underwear-pants-smugglers-airport_n_1870620.html?ref=topbar