Huge Ivory Seizure in Malaysia

Possibly the largest ever....full story here in Wildlife Extra News.

December 2011. Malaysian authorities have seized a staggering 15 tonnes of elephant ivory in Port Klang, just west of Kuala Lumpur; the sixth and by far the largest major seizure involving Malaysia in recent months, quite possibly the largest ever.

Weird Meat Seized in Malaysia

Ewwww....I don't know how I come across these weird stories. In Malaysia, 12 tonnes of exotic animal meat was seized from smugglers. It consisted of bear, iguana and owl meat.

Any kind of meat is gross to me, but owl? That's new to me!

Baby Gorilla Rescued from Smugglers

A baby lowland gorilla was rescued from smugglers on Sunday, April 24. There has unfortunately been an increase in smuggling attempts in the Congo. She is thought to be about two years old, was hidden at the bottom of a bag and covered with clothes when Congolese Wildlife Authority officers arrested the suspected trafficker at Goma airport. Here is an article about it.

And here is a video about the bust and arrests.

Look at the face of the baby when it's revealed. How can you not see it's simply a frightened child? How can you feel no frigging compassion?

Gobal Smuggling Ring Uncovered in Brazil

Thanks to animalblog.co.uk for this big story.

Brazilian federal police arrested 72 people on Wednesday on suspicion of running an international smuggling ring that traded half a million wild animals, including jaguars and monkeys, each year.

Police said it was the biggest single operation in the past decade against rampant illegal wildlife traffic in the South American country. Brazil is one of the world's hotspots for animal smuggling because of its rich diversity of animals.

Man Arrested for Smuggling Armoured Catfish

I guess you can smuggle anything in your suitcase if you try hard enough.

A Chinese man has been arrested for allegedly smuggling 13 armoured catfish into Australia on a Melbourne-bound flight.

The 34-year-old man arrived in Melbourne on a flight from Hong Kong on August 21 and was referred to the Australian Customs Service following a quarantine x-ray examination.

Customs officers allegedly found a cardboard box containing the live fish in plastic bags.

German Canines to Help Catch Smugglers

Interesting.

Amy, a German shepherd, and Uno, a Labrador retriever, have joined the team at {Frankfurt,} one of Europe's busiest airports — the first two dogs in Germany trained to sniff out live animals, plants or derivatives or remains of them.

The three-year-olds' debut is a joint effort between police and the World Wildlife Fund to help stop the illegal but lucrative trade in rare species — which the organization estimates is a $293 billion annual business....

They have been taught to focus on 16 specific smells including feathers, leathers, reptiles, caviar, coral, ivory and bone.

Incredible that illegal smuggling is estimated at $293 billion. That's huge.

Canadian Sentenced for Ivory Smuggling

Good news.

Tania Julie Siyam, a 32-year-old Canadian art dealer, has been sentenced to serve 60 months in prison and pay a $100,000 fine for illegally smuggling ivory from Cameroon to the United States. The sentence follows a long running international investigation by special agents of the U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service, wildlife officials from Environment Canada and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland, Ohio. Siyam plead guilty in a U.S. District Court to four federal felony charges.

Tania Siyam originally operated art import and export businesses in Montreal, Canada, and Cameroon that were fronts for smuggling products from endangered and protected wildlife species, including raw elephant ivory.

Rare Pets Being Smuggled into China

Too bad people aren't satisfied with going to shelters or other places to adopt loving animals. Instead they have to smuggle in cuddly pets like boas and lizards.

But let's be serious. These "rare pets" are not really pets at all. They are status symbols for the rich or have some folkloric symbolism to the not-so-rich. There is no appreciation or love for a species going on here.

"In the past two years we have been seizing a lot of animals, including some on the lists of endangered species assembled by international organizations," a publicity official at Guangzhou Customs surnamed Xu told China Daily yesterday.

Many of them were destined for local pet markets, she said.

Smugglers send the animals from other countries to China via sea transport or mail, she said.

Customs officials recently cracked a case in which a South Korean man tried to smuggle 50 boas and 56 lizards into Guangzhou from Jakarta, Indonesia, by air.

Customs and anti-smuggling officials spotted 10 suspicious bags and three boxes in his suitcase as his luggage passed through a scanner on December 14.

Closer investigation revealed the contraband snakes and lizards.

Animal experts said the animals belonged to 10 different species.

Photo by Crimson Chaos.