Legislators are calling on the government to quit the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in order for the trade and consumption of wildlife animals to go on unencumbered, owing it to increased human-wildlife conflict.

Only one known weed smuggling tunnel has ever existed between Canada and the United States. Daily Hive has story from the man who led the investigation.

Vietnam has seized around a tonne of pangolin scales and ivory hidden inside airline cargo packages, state media reported, as the country struggles to rein in wildlife smuggling across its borders. Both the ivory and pangolin trade have been banned in Vietnam but weak law enforcement in the communist state has allowed a black market to flourish and feed into a global multibillion-dollar industry in animal parts and exotic pets.

A 25-year-old U.S. citizen has been charged with using a drone to smuggle more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine from Mexico by drone, an unusually large seizure for what is still a novel technique to bring illegal drugs into the United States, authorities said Friday.

As the US press and social media came alive in condemnation as a result of the Hobby Lobby smuggling case, I couldn’t help but notice that while the hashtag #HobbyLobbyisISIS is noticeably attention-grabbing the more important facet of the “is-that-object-looted” puzzle was still being overlooked. By Lynda Albertson. (July 9, 2017)

Hong Kong customs officials have announced their largest-ever seizure of ivory, a haul of “about 7,200 kilograms,” or 16,000 pounds. The shipment was hidden in a container labeled as fresh fish, but instead contained more than $9 million worth of ivory hidden under the seafood, the Hong Kong government reported.

Liu Dongsheng, deputy head of the SFA, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a wildlife protection campaign, without specifying detailed numbers. China will stop commercial processing and sales of ivory by the end of this year. Last year, it imposed a three-year ban on ivory imports in an escalated fight against illegal trading of wild animals and plants. The number of illegal wildlife trade cases has been on the decline since last year, said Liu.

When Raymond Stansel was busted in 1974, he was one of Florida’s biggest pot smugglers. Facing trial and years in prison, he jumped bail, changed his name, and holed up in a remote Australian outpost. Even more remarkable than that? His second life as an environmental hero. By Rich Schapiro.

International police body Interpol announced a new project Friday that will identify and dismantle origanised crime networks between Africa and Asia that have devastated wildlife and made ivory a sought-after luxury. Interpol, headquartered in the eastern French city of Lyon, said the initiative will focus on providing increased resources to countries linked to the illegal wildlife trade—especially as it relates to ivory, rhino horns and Asian big cats. Elephant and rhinoceros...

China announces a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017.

More than 30 wild elephants were being readied on Friday evening for an airlift from Zimbabwe to captivity in China, according to wildlife advocates. The founder of Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, Johnny Rodrigues, said on Friday that their plane was still at Victoria Falls airport because officials could not find scales big enough to weigh the animals, which were confined inside heavy crates. But once that was accomplished, he added, “they’re gone”.

In a bid to stop the killing of elephants for their tusks, world governments voted at a major conservation conference to urge the closure of all domestic ivory markets. After fierce debate -- including opposition from governments like Namibia and Japan -- the motion was adopted on the final day of the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress, a 10-day meeting that drew 9,000 people to Honolulu, Hawaii this month.

The UK is putting elephants at risk of extinction through its broken promises on the ivory trade, according to campaigners. Before the last election, the Conservative party pledged to shut down the UK’s domestic ivory market: at the time 30,000 elephants a year were being slaughtered for their tusks. But no action has been taken. While bans on the international trade in ivory exist, a failure to observe similar measures at a national level is being exploited by criminal gangs who smuggle ivory into the UK, where it can be passed off as antique.

On Friday, a Mombasa law court sentenced Feisal Mohamed Ali to 20 years in jail after finding him guilty of illegal possession of ivory worth 44 million shillings (US $440,000). The court also imposed a fine of 20 million shillings. This landmark ruling by the Kenyan court is the end of a long story that began with the seizure of 2 tonnes of ivory at Fuji Motors car yard in Mombasa in June 2014. After more than 2 years of uncertainty and high drama, this exemplary sentence is justice for elephants. In a press statement, the Kenya Wildlife Service said...

Israeli authorities say they found ancient coins and artifacts hidden in the paneling of a diplomatic vehicle used by the Norwegian Embassy. The Tax Authority said Monday that the driver, from an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, was arrested for "suspected smuggling of ancient artifacts" at the end of May. He was later released on bail. Artifacts including 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of ancient coins, statues and other items were found hidden in the Mercedes after a search.

A NASCAR driver was among 60 people arrested in what authorities described as the largest tobacco-smuggling bust in North American history. Derek White became the first Native American driver in the Sprint Cup Series when he raced in New Hampshire last year. He’s made 22 career starts in the Xfinity Series and also ran six races in the Camping World Truck Series.

Kenya will set ablaze 120 tonnes of ivory worth $270 million, the biggest to be burned by any country in one go, in April this year. The event will be attended by Hollywood actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman along with several other celebrities.

A new report by WildAid, an international nongovernmental organization that aims to eliminate illegal wildlife trade, together with undercover video by independent investigators provided to WildAid and WWF-Hong Kong, exposes how Hong Kong’s legal ivory market fuels ivory smuggling and elephant poaching. Hong Kong is the world’s largest retail market for elephant ivory, with licensed businesses in high-rent tourist areas displaying more than...

Customs officials at Zurich airport have seized 262 kilograms (578 pounds) of ivory that three Chinese men had dispatched from Tanzania, contraband that may have come from up to 50 elephants, Swiss authorities said Tuesday. The ivory was found during a security check on July 6 and packed in eight suitcases, Switzerland’s customs authority said. It put the estimated black market value at about 400,000 francs ($413,000).

The smuggler walked past the diaper aisle, through the back door of the convenience store and into the metal shed where the migrants were hiding. It was Monday in one of the world’s human-smuggling capitals, the day when trucks crammed with Africans roar off in a weekly convoy bound for Libya, the threshold to Europe. For Musa, an expert in sneaking people across the Sahara, it was time to get ready.