Latest Wildlife poaching and smuggling News
Guatemala arrests migrant smugglers wanted by the US
HUEHUETENANGO, Guatemala (AP) — At dawn, police and federal agents with cover from helicopters flying overhead raided a large ranch nestled among the mountains of northern Guatemala, not far from the border with Mexico. Unlike the ranch’s impoverished neighbors, inside...
Malaysia seizes African tusks, pangolin scales worth $18M
PORT KLANG, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities said Monday they seized a container of African elephant tusks, pangolin scales and other animal skulls and bones estimated to be worth 80 million ringgit ($18 million). The Customs Department said in a statement it discovered the...
2 men from Congo plead guilty to shipping ivory, rhino horns
SEATTLE (AP) — Two foreign nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo have pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle for acting as middle men in a smuggling ring that brought illegal ivory, rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales into the U.S. Herdade Lokua, 24, and Jospin...
Prosecutor: Man sentenced on gun charge in officer shooting
CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a hunter has been sentenced to just under a decade in prison for illegal possession of a weapon used to shoot and seriously wound an Ohio Department of Natural Resources officer investigating a deer poaching complaint in 2020. The...
Conservationists call for action on Northwest wolf poaching
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Wildlife advocates say there has been a distressing uptick in wolf poaching cases in the Northwest in the past year and a half. Four dead wolves were discovered in the northeastern corner of Washington state in February. That followed the poisoning of eight...
'Tiger King' star Doc Antle charged with money laundering
“Tiger King” star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has been charged with laundering more than half a million dollars, money federal prosecutors said Monday that he believed to be the proceeds of an operation to smuggle people across the Mexican border into the United States. Charges...
WA investigating 4 dead wolves found in Stevens County
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A poaching investigation has been launched after two Stevens County deputies stumbled upon four dead wolves in northeast Washington while on snowmobile patrol near the Canadian border on Feb. 8, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said. Some...
Zimbabwe opens conference to promote sales of elephant ivory
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe has opened an international conference to try to win international support for its campaign to be allowed to sell its stockpile of seized ivory. If the southern African country is not permitted to sell off its 130 tons of ivory, estimated to be...
Zimbabwe urges sale of stockpile of seized elephant ivory
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe is seeking international support to be allowed to sell its stockpile of seized ivory, saying the $600 million it expects to earn is urgently needed for the conservation of its rapidly growing elephant population which it describes as “dangerous.” ...
Star of 'The Bear Whisperer' accused of illegal bear kill
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A man who stars on a TV show called “The Bear Whisperer” has been accused of illegally killing a black bear in Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Park and lying about where it was killed. The U.S. Attorney's Office filed misdemeanor charges last Friday...
