Latest Animal poaching and smuggling News
A US museum curator was detained in Turkey on claims of spider smuggling. He says he has permits
ISTANBUL (AP) — A curator at the American Museum of Natural History was detained in Istanbul while allegedly attempting to smuggle spider and scorpion samples, Turkish media reported. The curator said he had permits from the government to conduct his research. Lorenzo Prendini, an...
US regulators maintain fishing quota for valuable baby eels, even as Canada struggles with poaching
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — U.S. regulators decided Wednesday to allow American fishermen to harvest thousands of pounds of valuable baby eels in the coming years, even as authorities have shuttered the industry in Canada while they grapple with poaching. Baby eels, also called elvers,...
Man pleads guilty in eagle ‘killing spree’ on reservation to sell feathers on black market
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Washington state man accused of helping kill thousands of birds pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to shooting eagles on an American Indian reservation in Montana and selling their feathers and body parts on the black market. Travis John Branson...
Tennessee man gets jail for using a spotlight to poach deer and threatening a landowner
ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man was sentenced to jail and barred for life from hunting in the state after he illegally killed 15 deer over more than three years and threatened a landowner with a gun while poaching deer on his property, wildlife officials said. The man...
A New York collector pleads guilty to smuggling rare birdwing butterflies
NEW YORK (AP) — A Long Island man has pleaded guilty to illegally trafficking birdwing butterflies and other rare insects, according to a plea deal filed in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday. Charles Limmer, 75, of Commack, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to smuggle wildlife...
Man to plead guilty in 'killing spree' of eagles and other birds for feathers prized by tribes
A Washington state man accused of helping kill more than 3,000 birds — including eagles on a Montana Indian reservation — then illegally selling their carcasses and feathers intends to plead guilty to illegal wildlife trafficking and other criminal charges, court documents show. ...
Rhinos are returned to a plateau in central Kenya, decades after poachers wiped them out
LOISABA CONSERVANCY, Kenya (AP) — Conservationists in Kenya are celebrating as rhinos were returned to a grassy plateau that hasn't seen them in decades. The successful move of 21 eastern black rhinos to a new home will give them space to breed and could help increase the...
