Latest Animal poaching and smuggling News

Man pleads guilty in eagle ‘killing spree’ on reservation to sell feathers on black market

Mar. 20, 2024 17:56 PM EDT

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

Mar. 01, 2024 15:49 PM EST

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

Feb. 28, 2024 10:52 AM EST

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

Feb. 27, 2024 18:39 PM EST

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

Feb. 15, 2024 02:58 AM EST

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...

Caught at border with pythons in his pants, New York City man fined and sentenced to probation

Feb. 14, 2024 17:12 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York City man who admitted to smuggling three Burmese pythons in his pants through a U.S.-Canadian border crossing was sentenced Wednesday to a year of probation and fined $5,000, federal prosecutors said. Calvin Bautista, 38, crossed into northern New...