He traded rare turtles on the black market. Now, SC man is going to prison – via Herp Digest

 By John Monk and Sammy Fretwell, The State, Columbia SC, 3/11/19

A federal judge sentenced the S.C. leader of an international wildlife smuggling ring to more than a year in prison Monday for his role in trading rare turtles on the black market from his home in rural Orangeburg County.

The 16 months Steven Verren Baker will spend in a federal detention facility represents one of the first times anyone will have gone to prison in South Carolina for involvement in the illegal wildlife trade, prosecutors said after Monday’s court hearing. 

U.S. District Judge Joe Anderson handed down a 27 month-sentence, but Anderson gave Baker credit for the 11 months the Holly Hill man has spent in jail awaiting resolution of the case. Anderson said that while Baker’s crime was non-violent, it was a serious offense.

Baker, a 38-year-old with bipolar disorder, has been awaiting sentencing since pleading guilty to a wildlife trafficking charge last June. He faced up to five years in prison but Baker got credit for helping federal authorities prosecute others who were part of the smuggling operation.

Baker was the kingpin of the international smuggling scheme in South Carolina, regularly trading rare turtles with Asian businessmen on the black market, prosecutors said. An Augusta, Ga.,-native, Baker is one of the most widely known wildlife traders in South Carolina, having had run-ins with authorities for parts of the past 14 years.

Winston Holliday, an assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case, said people thinking of dealing wildlife illegally in South Carolina should pay attention to Monday’s sentence. 

“It sends a message that you’re facing real jail time,’’ Holliday said.

Wildlife trafficking is a concern in South Carolina because some turtle species that once were abundant are being trapped and shipped overseas, which threatens to disrupt the balance of nature, authorities say.

Baker, wearing shackles and a prison jumpsuit, has been in jail since last spring after his arrest. After he was charged in early 2018, Baker fled from authorities and was considered a fugitive at one point.

He had little to say at Monday’s sentencing hearing, but apologized for his actions, then shook Holliday’s hand before being whisked away by federal guards. Baker’s court-appointed attorney, federal public defender James Rogers, said Baker is sorry for his actions.

“He tells me he is not going to do this again,’’ Rogers said.

After pleading guilty, Baker helped prosecutors with the investigation that involved at least five other men with South Carolina ties. They also have pleaded guilty in federal court. Holliday declined to comment when asked if the investigation was continuing. A pre-sentencing court document says the names of some people who conspired with Baker are sealed.

Baker, whose parents went to prison when he was 8 years old, was found guilty of a wildlife trafficking charge in 2015 for selling rare spotted turtles, but he received probation.

Federal officials became aware of the latest operation in 2016 when inspectors opened packages at New York’s JFK International Airport and found 48 endangered Chinese and South American turtles nestled in piles of candy and noodles.

Jason Hsu, a New York man arrested in that case, told authorities about the South Carolina conspirators. He was a key connection for S.C. turtle smugglers, according to evidence in the case. The smugglers used Facebook to keep in touch with each other, according to evidence. The scheme involved turtle dealers in New York, Hong Kong and the Carolinas.

South Carolina, with its marshes, lakes and low-lying country, is known as a prime breeding ground for numerous kinds of turtles that fetch high prices in China. A lot of money can also be made smuggling turtles, some of which are worth thousands of dollars on the international black market. For example, one rare Indian Star Tortoise, a species smuggled into the U.S. by Baker’s ring, can sell for more than $2,000.

A neighbor of Baker’s told The State last year that Baker once earned $100,000 dealing in turtles from his home in the Holly Hill area.

South Carolina is a prime spot for reptile smugglers because state laws are relatively weak. In one case, a Florida man imported more than 200 deadly African snakes to South Carolina through the Atlanta airport.

The shadowy reptile trading industry is imperiling native species in the Palmetto State as Chinese traders seek turtles for pets or food to replace once abundant species in Asia, The State reported in an investigative series last year.

Last week, a Harleyville father and son — William “Bill” Fischer, 48, and Matt Fischer, 26 — were sentenced to probation for their relatively minor roles in Baker’s smuggling operation. Evidence in the case showed the Fischers received packages of money or small numbers of smuggled turtles. The elder Fischer attended Monday’s sentencing hearing. He said before the hearing he hoped the judge would “throw the book’’ at Baker.

Another S.C. turtle smuggler, Joseph Logan Brooks, 29, believed to be from Rock Hill, received five months in prison for his part in the scheme.

Turtle smuggling is just one of various environmental crimes that target endangered or prohibited wildlife. Other creatures and items smuggled into or out of the United States include snakes, rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks, as well as various kinds of plants.

“I am pleased with the outcome of the investigation and prosecution to date,’’ said Tom Chisdock, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent who investigated the case. “It’s been successful due to the cooperation of several state and federal partners.’’ 

New study sheds light on illegal wildlife trade in Hong Kong

A high volume and lucrative black market business

Date:  January 30, 2019

Hong Kong's illegal wildlife trade is contributing to a global extinction crisis. Every year millions of live animals, plants and their derivatives are illegally trafficked into and through Hong Kong, by transnational companies and organised crime syndicates.

There is an urgent need for the government to enhance its current enforcement strategy against wildlife smuggling. Over the last decade, the diversity of endangered species imported into Hong Kong has increased by 57%. At the same time, the estimated value of the trade has increased by 1,600%. Since 2013, seizures of illegal ivory, pangolin scales and rhino horn have been made by Hong Kong authorities, potentially equating to the deaths of 3,000 elephants, 96,000 pangolins and 51 rhinoceros.

Hong Kong's illegal wildlife trade is increasing in volume, underestimated in value and contributing to the global extinction crisis.

Some members of the Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group (HKWTWG) have joined forces to publish a study focusing on the type and volume of seizures relating to illegal wildlife trade in Hong Kong over the last 5 years. The findings documented in the 200 page report: Trading in Extinction: The Dark Side of Hong Kong's Wildlife Trade, illustrate the city's central role in global wildlife trafficking and the extent and nature of the associated criminality. It identifies clearly, how future policy and enforcement could be improved to provide the urgently required long-term sustainability.

Read on

Facebook and Instagram becomes black-market for trade in rare and endangered animals in Asia

Social media used for illegal trade of endangered animals in Asia 

Rare animals advertised on Facebook and Instagram, warns WWF

Traders and poachers increasingly go online to evade detection

By AFP and SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 11:25, 3 March 2016 | UPDATED: 14:23, 3 March 2016

Poachers and black-market traders are using social media to buy and sell rare and endangered animals in Asia, wildlife conservationists warn.

A wide range of protected animals, from rare birds to orangutans, are increasingly being advertised on Facebook and Instagram. 

The trend poses a new and worrying threat in Asia, where products derived from endangered species are sought for traditional medicines, and exotic animals are prized as pets.

A wide range of protected animals, from rare birds such as hornbills (pictured) to orangutans, are being advertised on Facebook and Instagram by black-market traders and poachers in Asia. 

The warnings were made in a report by wildlife-trade monitor Traffic and conservation group WWF released to coincide with Thursday's World Wildlife Day.

'Traders are clearly moving to non-conventional methods of sale such as utilising online portals and social media in order to evade detection, reach a broader audience and increase transaction efficiency and convenience,'the report said.

Growing numbers of traders are using Instagram, closed groups on Facebook and password-protected online forums to reach Asian customers, it added.

Traffic said in a single month in China last year, thousands of ivory products, 77 whole rhino horns and large numbers of endangered birds were found advertised for sale on sites such as QQ and WeChat, which are popular in China.

'The wildlife trade network is getting smarter and more sophisticated,' WWF Malaysia director Dionysius Sharma said.

Read more: 

Chinese black market endangering rare Philippine Forest Turtle

OCTOBER 26, 2015

by Brett Smith

   

The black market trade of animals threatens many endangered species, and the latest animal conservationists are raising red flags over the forest turtles living in the Philippines.

In particular, conservationists are worried about the Philippine Forest Turtle, which can only be found in the Philippine island of Palawan. Originally found in 1920, only four specimens of the Philippine forest turtles were identified until 2001 when a wild population was discovered holding onto to existence at the northern end of Palawan Island.

"They sell them mainly to the Chinese exotic food and medicine trade and the pet trade. They are smuggled out of the country, some are even traded on the high seas," Adelina Villena, chief of staff at the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, told the AFP.

The Philippine Forest Turtle, also known as the Palawan forest turtle, is listed as "critically endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is found in the island’s freshwater forests and streams.

Approximately 20 of these turtles were confiscated on October 18 among a haul of nearly a thousand forest turtles gathered by illegal wildlife traders in Palawan, Villena said. The turtles were handed over to a Palawan wildlife rescue facility where they are being rehabilitated and may soon be delivered back to the wild.

She added that the poaching of such turtles has jumped recently with over 4,000 freshwater turtles—most of them of the endangered variety—also confiscated in Palawan in June. That haul of is thought to represent about $1.4 million in value.

Read more at

Amid Record-Breaking Poaching, Wildlife Experts Seek to Smash a Black Market

by Megan Gannon, News Editor | March 05, 2015 08:14am ET

NEW YORK — Eight months ago, you could probably walk a few blocks from here, the Central Park Zoo, and find ivory for sale at a shop on Madison Avenue.

But not anymore: Last year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a ban on commercial sales and purchases of ivory and rhinoceros horn.

That ban was just one in a series of encouraging signs that lawmakers and law enforcement are serious about stopping illegal wildlife trade around the world. Last year, the Obama administration issued a proposal to implement a near-complete ban on the ivory trade in the United States. Just last week, China imposed a one-year ban on ivory imports. And Tuesday (March 3), the Kenyan government burned some 15 tons of its ivory stockpilesto mark World Wildlife Day. 

Read on ...

Undercover researchers expose new species of lizard for sale on Philippine black market

Date:

January 15, 2015

Source:

University of Kansas

Summary:

Amid the black-market pet trade in Manila, researchers have discovered two species of water monitor lizard that previously were unknown to science. Manila's criminal trade in animals ranges from pet stores "with many endangered and illegal species hidden behind the scenes" to major international wildlife violators and wholesale smuggling rackets.

Continued ...

Article: Environmental Law Fuels Black Market Trade in Cat Skins

Fluffy, hold on to your fur: Some scoundrels may want a piece of you. A lucrative trade in cat fur is booming in Switzerland, and as a result, many domestic cats are disappearing, animal advocates say.

Animal rights activists say a law allowing citizens to shoot housecats that are more than 656 feet (200 meters) from their houses is to blame. The law was designed to protect wildlife from free-roaming cats. Past studies have shown that cats kill billions of birds and other wildlife a year. But activists say the law is being used as a cover to pick off innocent pets and skin them for their fur, The Verge reported. The cat fur trade was outlawed in Switzerland in 2008, but a cat-fur blanket can fetch more than $1,700, according to The Verge article.

An advocacy group called SOS Chats has used hidden cameras to uncover a booming black market trade in cat skins, as well as 21 cat-skin tanneries across the country. Some farmers even admitted to the group that they were raising cats for the explicit purpose of selling them to tanneries.

http://www.livescience.com/37460-law-fuels-black-market-cat-fur-trade.html

Black-Market Tiger Skins Found in Russia

Authorities say they have seized eight Siberian tiger skins in a sting operation in Russia, a grim recovery hinting that black-market demand for the big cats remains high.

Acting on a tip, local police raided a home in Arseniev, a tiny city near Russia's border with North Korea, where they found the eight skins, including the hides of four cubs, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). A suspect, whose name has not been released, was taken into custody, WWF officials said.

A preliminary investigation indicated that the suspect was engaged in illegal trade in the Chinese market, according to the conservation group. And there were clues that more than just these eight cats were killed. While no skins of nursing female tigers were found, one of the skinned cubs was suckling, suggesting the baby's mom also may have been killed and sold.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/22761-siberian-tiger-skins-russia.html

After 12 million years, plant species at risk of extinction

When the moon is full, the poachers come out at night, stalking the hills and mountains of South Africa in search of their valuable prey.

They’re not hunting for ivory or rhino horn. They’re searching for something just as valuable: an endangered 12-million-year-old plant species, the cycad, which can sell for as much as $100,000 on the global black market.

Prized for their rarity and oddity and their link to the prehistoric age, cycads have become objects of fascination for a cult of hard-core collectors around the world. But poaching by organized criminal syndicates has become so devastating that many African cycad species are threatened with extinction in the wild, forcing officials to consider a ban on their trade and prompting a scientific race to catalogue their DNA so they will be harder to smuggle.

Cycads, which look like a cross between a fern and a prehistoric palm, are descended from extinct species of cycads that lived with the dinosaurs in the Jurassic period. Some cycads can take centuries to reach maturity, with their trunks ranging in height from a few centimetres to several metres.

They are among the world’s oldest seed plants, never producing flowers or fruit, relying instead on huge seed cones and using beetles for pollination. Many cycads contain dangerous neurotoxins or carcinogens, along with spiky leaves that are sharp enough to draw blood.

Collectors in Asia and North America are willing to pay huge sums for the rarest of these odd prehistoric plants. And now organized crime syndicates have swooped into the business.

After years of rampant poaching and trafficking, at least four cycad species in Africa have become extinct, with most of those extinctions happening in the past decade. South Africa is one of the world’s last remaining havens for cycads, yet 31 per cent of its cycad species are now listed as critically endangered, and almost all of its cycads are in serious decline in the wild.

In the wilderness of Limpopo province, north of Pretoria, landowners are embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game with the cycad poachers, sending out patrols and even helicopters to pursue them.

“These are unbelievably well-organized and highly profitable criminal syndicates,” says Niel Maritz, who owns a game lodge in Limpopo with hundreds of cycads on it.

“It’s happening right under our noses, but the terrain is so difficult that you have to stumble onto them,” he added. “They come in the full moon, they remove the plants at night, and then they get picked up in the morning. In a year or two, at the current rate, there won’t be many cycads left in the wild.”

Last week, when fresh tracks of poachers were spotted on a neighbouring farm, Mr. Maritz joined a patrol on the chase. But they lost the tracks when a heavy rainstorm erupted. “We’re fighting the war on the ground, but these guys are just the labourers in the syndicates,” he said. “It’s completely out of control.”

On his own farm, poachers have raided the mountains in search of cycads, chopping them up into smaller plants that can be transported. He managed to save about 200 of the cycads by moving them to a secure garden near his house, after obtaining a permit from local officials.

In Eastern Cape province, farmers have reported that poachers arrive with pickup trucks and winches to pull out cycads from river valleys.

“They’re well-organized, they know where the plants are, and they know exactly how to avoid being caught in possession,” said David Newton, director of the Southern and East Africa regions of TRAFFIC, an organization that monitors the global wildlife trade.

Cycads are also cultivated in nurseries and botanical gardens, which have become the target of well-organized robberies, forcing them to hire security guards.

Traders are permitted to export artificially propagated cycads from South Africa, and more than 5,000 were exported in 2009 alone. But the government lacks the resources to ensure that these exports are properly monitored and inspected, Mr. Newton said.

A few unscrupulous nurseries have obtained permits to sell seedlings and then illegally replaced them with mature plants from the wild, he said.

Mr. Newton’s organization has called for a complete ban on the trade of cycads, but South Africa has suggested instead a regulation that would halt the trade of only a limited number of cycad species. The regulation, opposed by private cycad owners, has not yet been approved.

To smuggle the cycads out of Africa, the traffickers often strip them of all their foliage, leaving only a naked trunk that can be almost impossible for customs officials to identify.

A scientific project at the University of Johannesburg could make it easier to identify rare species of cycads when they are inspected at border crossings. The project is using a DNA barcoding system to create a database of cycad species. Ultimately their DNA could be checked by customs officials with a small handheld device, preventing cycads from being smuggled illegally. It’s part of the International Barcode of Lifeproject, headquartered at the University of Guelph in Ontario, which seeks to catalogue all of the earth’s biodiversity.

Philip Rousseau, a researcher at the University of Johannesburg who has worked on the DNA barcoding project, is worried that wild cycads could face extinction.

“You can go into the wilderness to where they are supposed to be, walk around for hours and not find any,” he said.

“They’ve survived all this time, but now they’re barely hanging on.”

GEOFFREY YORK

MOOKGOPHONG, SOUTH AFRICA— From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/after-12-million-years-plant-species-at-risk-of-extinction/article2306115/

141% more tuna is traded than is allowed to be caught

Depressing figures do not even take account of black market
October 2011: The amount of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna traded on the global market last year exceeded the official quota by a staggering 141 per cent, according to the latest analysis.

The figure shows a rapidly worsening situation. It is the result of a study commissioned by the Pew Environment Group and compares to one two years ago in which the quota was exceeded by 31 per cent. And it could be just the tip of the iceberg, as these figures do not even account for ‘black market' bluefin that is missing from official databases.

Stronger enforcement neededThis analysis highlights the gap between the quota for Atlantic bluefin tuna allowed to be caught in the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the amount traded on the international market during the period of 1998-2010.

In 2008, in response to plummeting bluefin tuna populations in the Mediterranean, member governments of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the organisation responsible for managing tuna and similar species in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, adopted stronger enforcement and trade measures. These included lower catch limits and a paper-based documentation system designed to more accurately record the amount of bluefin caught and traded. But the new study shows that despite those efforts, significant problems with illegal and unreported fishing remain.

In light of the findings, The Pew Environment Group urges ICCAT member governments to take immediate action at their annual meeting in next month. Specifically, Pew is calling for improving compliance with bluefin tuna catch quotas by ensuring that an electronic documentation system is in place for the 2012 fishing season.

‘We need to track fish from sea to plate'‘The paper-based catch documentation of the bluefin trade is rife with fraud and misinformation,' said Lee Crockett, who directs Atlantic bluefin tuna conservation at the Pew Environment Group. ‘An electronic system would provide more accurate information that can be easily shared and cross-checked instantly. Such a programme should also include a physical bar code for each bluefin, which could be easily administered and would not be cost prohibitive. This would allow the fish to be tracked from sea to plate.'

Most bluefin tuna caught in the Mediterranean are destined for ‘ranches'. Juvenile bluefin that have yet to reproduce are netted and transferred to these pens, where they are fattened for months and sometimes years before being killed and sold on the global market. The electronic catch documentation programme would help track the amount of fish in ranches.

‘Tuna ranching in the Mediterranean makes it exceedingly difficult to accurately track the number of bluefin caught,' said Roberto Mielgo Bregazzi, a bluefin tuna trade expert who conducted the analysis. ‘These offshore bluefin tuna fattening ranches are part and parcel of the problem of underreporting and non-reporting of caught fish.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bluefin-quotas2011.html

Dramatic rise in sheep rustling costing farmers £5million a year

HERE’S a crime that calls for more bobbies on the bleat…

Organised gangs of crooks are thought to be behind a dramatic 80% rise in sheep rustling across Britain.

About 30,000 were stolen in the first eight months of this year as the impact of the recession bites.
Police fear the criminals may be shipping the animals abroad as cheap meat.

The North East is the worst-affected region. Recently 86 sheep were stolen from fields near Belsay in Northumberland.

And in Lincolnshire, 1,500 sheep and lambs were snatched near Louth. A spokeswoman for ­insurance firm NFU Mutual, which deals with many of the claims, said: “In the last decade, ­livestock rustling has been at historically low levels, while farm thieves concentrated on stealing quad bikes, tractors and power tools. High meat prices and improved security appear to be leading to a resurgence in livestock rustling.”

Chief Superintendent Mark Dennett, from Northumbria police, added: “I have been an officer for 29 years and incidents of livestock going missing have never been on this scale. I believe this is organised crime. The gangs must be using large vehicles.

“I suspect the sheep could be transported out of the region, or even loaded on ships bound for Europe. The farming community is very close knit. The vast majority of butchers and suppliers know exactly where their meat comes from. It is crucial we get information.”

Sheep sell for around £100 each on the black market. Theft of livestock in 2011 has cost farmers across England, Scotland and Wales more than £5million.


by Steve White, Daily Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/10/03/dramatic-rise-in-sheep-rustling-costing-farmers-5million-a-year-115875-23462671/

Smugglers Now After Venomous Snakes

by Ajay Kanth, ExpressBuzz
KOCHI: After ivory, ganja and sandalwood, the smugglers are now madly after King Cobra and other venomous snakes in the forests as 10 ml venom of a King Cobra would fetch crores of rupees in the international black market.
The smuggling of snake venom had come to light after the recent seizure of 200 ml of King Cobra venom at Kanjikode, near Palakkad.
"Though the police had earlier information on operation of such rackets, the seizure of 200 ml of King Cobra venom was the first of its kind in the state.
A case has been registered against two persons and a lab analysis report has confirmed it as King Cobra venom," said Crime Branch SP P Vijayan.
He said as per preliminary reports, the venom would be first smuggled to northern parts of the state from where it would be shipped to South-East Asian nations.
"The enzyme in the venom is processed and converted into a drug which will offer an extra kick when taken along with hashish or brown sugar," Vijayan said and added tha t the smuggling of venom had increased in the recent  times as a lot of big buyers had come forward to offer huge money for it.
"Compared to other contrabands, the venom is easy to smuggle as majority of enforcement agencies cannot easily identify it unless and until a lab analysis is done," said a senior police official. Chief Wildlife Warden K
A Ouseph said there had been a lot of reports on venom smuggling and the Forest Department had already conducted several raids at various places.
"We do not think that the smugglers extract venom after catching snakes in the forest.
Reports have pointed out that the smugglers rear snakes at their homes and  at several clandestine places to extract venom from them," the official  said and added that they would further intensify their operation to track those persons who were violating the provisions in the Wildlife Act.

From: HerpDigest Volume # 10 Issue # 46 10/30/10 (A Not-for-Profit  Publication)