Source:  Timesheraldonline.com

By Eric Kurhi

A Milpitas man was sentenced to five months home detention and ordered to pay fines and restitution for his role in a live shark poaching operation that illegally sold undersized leopard sharks caught in the bay and nurse sharks from Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dean Tuan Trinh, 44, pleaded guilty on Aug. 8 to charges related to pulling leopard sharks out of San Francisco Bay that were below the 36-inch minimum length, and selling them to customers in Canada and Florida through his Milpitas businesses: Aquatop USA, High Tech Auctions and hightechauction.com.

Trinh also acknowledged "that he conspired to transport, sell, receive, acquire and purchase illegally collected nurse shark pups over the Internet, " according to the U.S. attorney's office. Those nurse shark pups were offered for sale on eBay and Craigslist.

"The shark pups were harvested from Florida state waters without the required licenses and permits and out of the lawful season," states a Department of Justice news release. "Trinh conspired with an individual in Florida to obtain these sharks."

Trinh was indicted by federal grand juries in California and Florida, and charged with conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act -- a law dating to 1900 that prohibits trade in plants and wildlife that have been illegally harvested -- as well as wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

While the maximum sentence could have been decades in prison, Trinh's punishment includes the home detention, three years of probation, a $10,000 fine that will go to the Lacey Act Reward Fund and $14,400 in restitution, which will be paid to the California Academy of Sciences and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Trinh was also ordered to forfeit his fishing boat, named the "Shark Hunter," and a Toyota Tundra double-cab, which were used to catch and transport the sharks.

Sourc:  IFAW.org

By Grace Ge Gabriel

At the invitation of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, I am flying into Denver, Colorado today to witness the destruction of the elephant ivory seized in the United States.

Nearly six tons of elephant ivory confiscated from illegal trade will be destroyed by crushing at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge. The symbolic ivory crush signifies the US commitment to combat wildlife trafficking as outlined in President Obama’s new Executive Order in July.

The organization I work for, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) strongly supports governments to destroy their stockpiles of confiscated ivory for two reasons: both as a symbolic gesture to highlight the plight of tens of thousands of elephants that are being killed each year to supply the ivory trade, but also as a way to ensure that seized ivory does not re-enter the market.

IFAW believes the destruction of confiscated ivory will send a strong signal to consumers everywhere that buying ivory is immoral and wrong, and send a tough message to poachers and traffickers that their actions will not be tolerated.

The snow-capped mountains and the crisp dry air of the mile high city bring back memories of another symbolic destruction of wildlife parts from another species, on another continent.  

A decade ago, at the Kekexili Nature Reserve in China’s western plateau, elevation 3-miles high (16,400 ft), I twice joined Chinese government officials in setting fire to thousands of confiscated Tibetan antelope pelts.  

Tibetan antelope or chiru ((Pantholops hodgsonii), a highly endangered species endemic to the Qinghai Tibet plateau, were heavily poached in China for their wool, which is smuggled into India to be woven into a shawl highly-prized for its lightness, softness and warmth that it is called “shahtoosh” (“King of Wool”).

The sharp demand for Shahtoosh shawls in the luxury markets in Europe and America stimulated poaching, which saw tens of thousands of chiru killed a year. More....

Source:  News.nationalgeographic.com

By Sasha Ingber

Hackers have broken into the websites of banks, news outlets, social media, and the government, but could key information on the whereabouts of endangered species be targeted as well?

Possibly, say conservationists: An incident in India has some concerned that wildlife poachers could use the Internet as another resource for criminal activity.

In July, Krishnamurthy Ramesh, head of the monitoring program at Panna Tiger Reserve in central India, received an email that alerted him to an attempt to access his professional email account. His inbox contained the encrypted geographic location of an endangered Bengal tiger. (See a National Geographic magazine interactive of big cats in danger.)

The tiger, a two-and-a-half-year-old male, had been fitted with a nearly $5,000 collar with both satellite and ground-tracking capabilities in February 2013. The collar was configured to provide GPS data every hour for the first three months and every four hours for the next five months (the collar lasts about eight months).

In July, the battery expired and the satellite feedback in the collar stopped working. Around the same time, Ramesh received the notice that someone in Pune (map)—more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) away from his office in Dehradun (map)—had tried to access his email.

The attempt was promptly prevented by the server. Even if the GPS data had been obtained, it is encrypted and can be decoded only with specialized data-converter software and specific radio-collar product information, said Ramesh. More....

Source:  Motherboard.vice.com

By Derek Mead

The pace of poaching and the growth of wildlife crime has skyrocketed in the last five years, pushing elephants, rhinos, and myriad other species towards the brink. Recently, that growth has spurred more attention from US authorities, with both Hillary Clinton and John Kerry speaking out against the trade. Now, a pair of announcements from the White House suggest the Obama administration is taking the anti-trafficking fight to new heights.

The first is largely symbolic: senior officials announced yesterday that the US would destroy its six-ton elephant ivory stockpile in a bid to raise awareness. The massive stockpile contains everything from whole tusks and carved art, and is the result of 25 years or more of seizures. The ivory, which is currently stored in a secure facility in Denver, will be destroyed in an event on October 8 by US Fish and Wildlife officials.

The move follows the Philippines' recent decision to destroy its own five-ton ivory stock, and the thinking is that destroying stocks provides two-fold benefits. One, crushing millions of dollars worth of ivory is a great way of raising awareness of the trade, which remains sorely lacking. Getting people to ask why ivory would be destroyed is a solid first step towards turning popular tide against the illicit wildlife trade, which is currently decimating elephants at a faster rate than anti-poaching efforts can stop.

The other hope—although less of a concern with the US's secured stock—is that destroying seized ivory will prevent ivory on the market from being laundered. Ivory harvested before the 1989 international ivory ban is still legal today, but because it's difficult to date ivory and with a lack of a universal permit and tracking system for antique ivory, it's hard for authorities to prove that ivory is illegal, especially if they're indifferent about the issue in the first place. New tests are helping sort out how old ivory is, but by destroying stockpiles worldwide—legal or otherwise, as is the case in the US—will help cut down on avenues for ivory laundering.

The second announcement from the White House follows up on a July executive order from President Obama pledging to create a council dedicated to slowing the trade. Yesterday, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the members of the new task force. The council includes top officials from major wildlife NGOs, legal experts, as well as top lawyer from eBay, which has made strides in past years at cutting down the online trade. More....

Source:  Denverpost.com

By Bruce Finley

A growing stash of more than 6 tons of ivory from slaughtered elephants, heaped in a warehouse north of Denver, is about to be destroyed as part of a new U.S. push to combat illegal wildlife trafficking worldwide. Publicly crushing the smuggled tusks and carvings will be the first act to end what has become a $10 billion illegal industry with security implications officials liken to those of illegal drug dealing.

"Our experience is that the only way to end this trade is to get international support. That's the goal of what we're doing with this crush," said Steve Oberholtzer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special-agent-in-charge based in Denver, who is lining up rock-grinders to pulverize the ivory in October.

African governments already have destroyed some ivory seized from poachers, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Monday at a White House forum where the initiative was launched. "The U.S. supports these actions, and we want to make sure we are doing the same."President Barack Obama on July 1 issued an order to combat the killing of protected wildlife, stop the trafficking, and reduce demand for illegal rhino horns and ivory. Members of a newly created advisory council sketched a broad approach of enlisting governments, companies and nonprofits worldwide.

Beyond destroying ivory, U.S. officials said they'll give $10 million to help fight poaching in Africa and will try to persuade Asian governments to outlaw trinkets and other products made from elephant ivory. Tactics being considered include use of cellphone technology to monitor elephants, social media campaigning in China and cooperation with companies such as eBay to curb commerce.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said U.S. intelligence agencies recently found that militant groups in Africa, including al-Shabab in Somalia, the Janjaweed in Sudan and Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, have turned to illegal ivory trafficking for revenues. More....

Source:  News.discovery.com

By Jennifer Viegas

Largetooth sawfish, which resemble their shark relatives, are critically endangered, and yet they are routinely being killed and sold in fish markets, according to new research.

The study, accepted for publication in the journal Food Control, reports that the extremely toothy fish, with saw snouts, wind up skinned, filleted and displayed in markets. Consumers have no idea what they’re buying.

"The proper identification of fish products, like fillets, is a worldwide concern, and several studies have focused on unreported or misidentified fishing issues," wrote co-author Iracilda Sampaio of the Universidade Federal do Pará and colleagues, after identifying some "fresh or salted fillets" in markets as being flesh from largetooth sawfish.

The researchers used DNA analysis to identify the mystery fish.

First, Sampaio and her team sequenced two genes from largetooth sawfish. They then performed genetic analysis of 44 samples of fish sold at markets in northern Brazil. The samples were sold under the generic label of “shark.” Twenty-three out of the 44 samples had genes that matched those of largetooth sawfish.

Fishing and trade of this species have been illegal for some time in Brazil, as well as in the United States and certain other countries. Nevertheless, as Sampaio pointed out, they are often "caught as bycatch in fisheries targeting commercially important species." These include swordfish, catfish, tuna and other fish. More....

Source:  Ecommercebytes.com

By Julia Wilkinson

Fur, feathers, and even certain types of fibers were flying on the Etsy discussion board about its new Prohibited Items policy. Although the lion's share (sorry) of the comments applauded Etsy's integrity and commitment to protecting endangered species and their parts, quite a few sellers - such as those of vintage or "pre-ban" parts like old ivory - were unhappy with the changes and some felt it went too far or introduced a slippery slope of banning everything animal-part related.

And other sellers who sold vintage items were not happy with the change. "Hazel," whose shop is "Pinguim", wrote that sellers who had vintage "pre-ban" type items listed would be out of the funds invested in such pieces, and also the time they had invested in researching pre- vs. post- ban pieces. "This new policy will hurt those who know the difference and have invested and researched accordingly," she wrote.

But an admin on the Etsy board, "Bonnie," responded that "the risk that the legal status of these items may be unknown or mislabeled is too great, and the continued sale of these items stands to perpetuate market demand and further jeopardize the existence of these species."

While Etsy's firm stance against pieces such as ivory was clear, there seemed to be more grey area in products made of materials such as fiber and feathers. A seller known as "whiskeyish" wrote, "I'm sorry, but correct me if I'm wrong - you're banning any and all camel fiber, chinchilla fiber, bighorn sheep fiber, markhor fiber, etc., without considering any ramifications? That means you're banning camel hair coats (bactrian camels), cashmere sweaters (kashmir markhor), spun wool yarn (from mixed fiber sources), and chinchilla fiber from someone brushing a pet chinchilla, no exceptions." More....

Source:  Prnewswire.com

Press Release

Congratulations to Etsy for stepping up to the plate in prohibiting the sale of ivory and all other products made from endangered species.  By reconsidering its wildlife policies, Etsy joins eBay as a leader in saving wildlife on the web.  eBay voluntarily banned all animal ivory from its sites globally in 2008 after the release of the IFAW investigative report, Killing with Keystrokes.  Now other web platforms like Craigslist, Bonanza and Google Shop should follow suit and do the same.  Just last week on these three sites IFAW found ivory, live parrots and tortoises, monkey bone, and even rhino horn, all available for sale.  We hope that these websites will follow the example of Etsy and eBay and move quickly to put an end to the illicit wildlife trade occurring on-line.

To view and download a full copy of Killing With Keystrokes:  http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/node/900

Source:  Startribune.com

By Matthew Daly

More than 150 people face federal and state charges after authorities disrupted online wildlife trafficking operations involving tiger, leopard and jaguar pelts, elephant ivory and live birds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the arrests Thursday after an undercover operation that included officers from 16 states, three federal agencies and three Asian countries.

Items seized under "Operation Wild Web" include the pelts of endangered big cats such as the Sumatran tiger, leopard and jaguar; live migratory birds such as the California scrub jay; whale teeth; elephant and walrus ivory; and a zebra pelt.

"Our message is clear and simple: The Internet is not an open marketplace for protected species," said Edward Grace, deputy assistant director for law enforcement for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Working with counterparts in California, Texas, New York, Florida and Alaska and other states, federal officials targeted illegal wildlife sellers who operate through Craigslist, eBay and other Internet marketplaces and classified ads. Wildlife officers in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia ran similar operations at the same time.

The items were seized last August, although charges are still being brought in many cases. Six Southern California residents were charged Thursday with selling endangered species and animal parts, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said. More....

Source:  Star-telegram.com

By Steve Campbell

From a snow leopard pelt confiscated in Fort Worth to a clock fashioned out of endangered Texas tortoise shells and live piranhas sold in California, a two-week online sting by state and federal wildlife officials last summer resulted in 154 arrests for illegal wildlife Internet sales.

“It’s not just the uniformed warden that is going to sneak up on you while you are doing your dirty deed. We’re watching you on the Internet, too,” said Captain Greg Williford, who leads the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s criminal investigations unit.

Operation Wild Web, a joint undercover operation led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and coordinated with 16 state wildlife agencies and three Asian countries, resulted in 30 cases involving federal wildlife crimes and 124 violations of state wildlife laws, according to Edward Grace, deputy assistant director for law enforcement with the federal agency.

Williford said 51 of the cases involving $19,000 worth of illegal transaction were made in Texas.

“Our message is clear and simple: The Internet is not an open marketplace for protected species, ” Grace said in a Thursday news release.

Wildlife and wildlife products seized during Operation Wild Web included the pelts of endangered big cats such as Sumatran tiger, snow leopard and jaguar; live migratory birds; sea turtle shells and sea turtle skin boots; whale teeth; elephant ivory; migratory bird mounts; walrus ivory; and other items. The intercepted transactions involved more than $60,000-worth of wildlife contraband, the USFWS said. More....

Source:  Home.nzcity.co.nz

A retired Auckland man has become the first person to be convicted for illegally importing ivory after he bought and sold items through an online auction.

Jiezhen Jiang, 58, was fined a total of $12,000 after admitting eight charges of trading in an endangered species without a permit. The maximum penalty is up to five years' jail and/or a fine of up to $100,000.

The items included a letter opener, a parasol handle, a statue of a man and boy, a face mask, a carved woman's head, a carved scene on a wooden base and two carved tusks which were all made from African elephant tusks.

In 2011, two of the items were intercepted at Auckland's mail centre after being sent from England and Portugal and the rest were found at his home. At the same time authorities raided the address in Cheltenham, England - the house of one of those responsible for sending ivory to Jiang.

According to police, Jiang had bought 299 items on the Ebay auction website and sold ivory items to buyers in China.

The illegal trade in endangered species is worth billions of dollars a year, despite a global ban on commercially trading ivory being imposed in 1989.

Manukau District Court Judge Jonathan Moses on Wednesday said the illegal trade in ivory was a serious issue that threatened the survival of elephants in the wild. More....

Source:  Huffingtonpost.co.uk

By Vidhi Doshi

On Friday, three men from the Fujian province in China, named Chen, He and Zhao were sentenced for smuggling a total of 7.7 tonnes of ivory from Africa to China. The trio's activities account for the deaths of 819 African elephants, over a period of six months in 2011, which was already labelled an annus horriblis by the wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC - the worst year for elephants since records began. The landmark sentencing is a victory for wildlife protection authorities in China, where the illicit ivory trade is thriving. However, under-funded wildlife authorities across the world are scratching their heads about how to regulate the illegal wildlife trade as it moves online.

The role of crime syndicates such as the Fujian trio, in the illicit trade of wildlife is becoming increasingly clear. The New York Times recently compared the ivory trade with Sierra Leone's blood diamonds: a "conflict resource", which is luring in notorious armed groups such as Lord's Resistance Army, the Shabab and Darfur's janjaweed. These groups are plundering Africa of its most majestic beasts; hunting down elephants and selling their tusks to fund militant movements and bring weapons and disorder into war-torn regions of Africa.

As elephant populations disappear rapidly, the illicit trade of ivory is growing. A report by Interpol and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) published last month noted that hundreds of ivory items, worth approximately 1.5million euro were being advertised for sale over a two-week period of online surveillance. In an earlier report, in 2011 IFAW reported that ivory was the most widely traded wildlife product on the Internet. IFAW found over 660 ivory products on various auction sites including Ebay, with no indication that the seller had supporting documentation to prove that the ivory was acquired before the 1989 trade ban. More....

Source:  Yahoo.com

By Todd Pitman

Conservationists say there's a new threat to the survival of Africa's endangered elephants that may be just as deadly as poachers' bullets: the black-market trade of ivory in cyberspace. Illegal tusks are being bought and sold on countless Internet forums and shopping websites worldwide, including Internet giant Google, with increasing frequency, according to activists. And wildlife groups attending the 178-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Bangkok this week are calling on global law enforcement agencies to do something about it.

The elephant slaughter, which has reached crisis proportions unheard of in two decades, is largely being driven by skyrocketing demand in Asia, where tusks are often carved into tourist trinkets and ornaments.

"The Internet is anonymous, it's open 24 hours a day for business, and selling illegal ivory online is a low-risk, high-profit activity for criminals," Tania McCrea-Steele of the International Fund for Animal Welfare told The Associated Press on Tuesday from London.

In one investigation last year, IFAW found 17,847 elephant products listed on 13 websites in China. The country, which conservationists call the world's top destination for "blood ivory" from Africa, is not alone.

IFAW says illegal ivory trading online is an issue within the U.S., including on eBay, and it is rife on some websites in Europe, particularly nations with colonial links to Africa.

It is often advertised with code words like "ox-bone," ''white gold," ''unburnable bone," or "cold to the touch," and shipped through the mail.

Another conservation advocacy group, the Environmental Investigation Agency, said Tuesday that Google Japan's shopping site now has 10,000 ads promoting ivory sales.

About 80 percent of the ads are for "hanko," small wooden stamps inlaid with ivory lettering that are widely used in Japan to affix signature seals to official documents; the rest are carvings and other small objects.

The trade is legal within Japan, but banned by Google's own policies. The EIA said hanko sales are a "major demand driver for elephant ivory." More....

Source:  Wired.co.uk

By Liat Clark

According to a report published by WWF, the illegal wildlife trade is now worth £12 billion a year and poses a threat to national security, prompting the conservation organisation to call on governments in source and consumer countries to step up their law enforcement. 

The £12 billion figure is significantly greater than older approximations, which estimated the illegal industry as being worth around £7-8 billion. The report also ranks it as being the fourth largest global illegal trade, though well behind the drugs, counterfeit products and currency, and people trafficking industries.

Carried out by management consultancy firm Dalberg and based on interviews with representatives from more than 110 governments and international organisations, the report lands part of the blame with governments that continue to see the issue as purely an environmental one, despite the links the industry has with corruption, money laundering and terrorism. As such, nations routinely fail to prioritise it. 

"This is about much more than wildlife," said WWF international director general Jim Leape at a press conference. "This crisis is threatening the very stability of governments. It has become a profound threat to national security."

WWF's call to action  echoes a recent speech by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who in November said: "Over the past few years wildlife trafficking has become more organised, more lucrative, more widespread, and more dangerous than ever before. More....

Source:  NBCnews.com

By Jason Straziuso, Michael Casey, William Foreman

Carefully, the Chinese ivory dealer pulled out an elephant tusk cloaked in bubble wrap and hidden in a bag of flour. Its price: $17,000.

"Do you have any idea how many years I could get locked away in prison for having this?" said the dealer, a short man in his 40s, who gave his name as Chen.

A surge in demand for ivory in Asia is fuelling an illicit trade in elephant tusks, especially from Africa. Over the past eight years, the price of ivory has gone up from about $100 per kilogram ($100 per 2.2 pounds) to $1,800, creating a lucrative black market.

Experts warn that if the trade is not stopped, elephant populations could dramatically plummet. The elephants could be nearly extinct by 2020, some activists say. Sierra Leone lost its last elephants in December, and Senegal has fewer than 10 left.

"If we don't get the illegal trade under control soon, elephants could be wiped out over much of Africa, making recovery next to impossible," said Samuel K. Wasser, director of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. "The impact that loss of this keystone species would have on African ecosystems is difficult to even imagine."

Wasser estimated that the illegal trade is about 100 times the legal trade, with a value of $264 million over the past decade.

Demand for ivory runs strong in the Chinese city of Putian, which sits directly across from Taiwan, its outskirts crowded with factories owned by Taiwanese businessmen. These businessmen have a reputation for collecting ivory, a sure way to seal a deal with an important client.

Chen buys his ivory from middlemen. He said he doesn't know its source. More....

Source:  Hcn.org

By Craig Welch

Ted Nelson stood in the shadows near the trash can. The boating-equipment salesman stared through a video camera at a dark-haired figure bent over a folding table. Inside a wing of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Hisayoshi Kojima -- Yoshi to his friends -- was inspecting a display of mounted butterflies. Around him, the corridors crawled with bug-lovers: entomologists, bug collectors, people who kept bugs as pets, bug sellers, bug buyers, even would-be tailors who knitted clothing with bug designs. Tourists gasped at hissing cockroaches skittering in Tupperware and dickered over prices for pin-mounted scorpions. It was late spring in 2006, and this was the 20th anniversary of Los Angeles' annual insect fair, among the largest events of its kind in the country. The 60 or so exhibitors were an extended family of sorts, who traded bugs on an international circuit of shows or through eBay. There were those who wanted things, and those who got things. Almost every vendor here knew Hisayoshi Kojima. The 55-year-old got things few others could.

And Ted Nelson was in the market for something no one else could get.

Nelson watched Kojima fiddle with his glasses. The two men had been friends once, or so one of them thought. They'd met here, three years earlier. Nelson had strolled up to Kojima's booth and started firing off questions. They'd hit it off spectacularly. Nelson said he wanted to collect insects. Flattered, Kojima made Nelson his protege.

For much of the next year, the two had been inseparable, and what Nelson learned blew him away. Few who knew Kojima hadn't heard that National Geographic had hired him to scout rainforest jungles for insects. Some knew Kojima made several hundred thousand dollars a year selling bugs. Others had heard he kept a kid on retainer to net butterflies in Honduras. But Yoshi Kojima also dabbled in the illicit. He bragged about bribing border officials so he could sneak endangered insects out of South America. He stole rare swallowtail butterflies from the eastern part of Mojave National Preserve and sold beautiful blue-tipped Papilio indra kaibabensis from Grand Canyon National Park. More....

Source:  Payvand.com

By Antoine Blua

Found only in a tiny region of Iran, the Kaiser's spotted newt, or Luristan newt (Neurergus kaiseri), boasts a mosaic of black and white patches, turning to red-orange on its legs, belly, and spine.

But the newt's beauty threatens to be its downfall, with the number of mature wild individuals estimated to have dropped by 80 percent in recent years to fewer than 1,000, in large part due to a vibrant international pet trade aided by the Internet.

In a move that is hoped to help curtail the pet trade, the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar, has endorsed an Iranian proposal to ban all international trade of wild-caught Kaiser's spotted newts.

Ernie Cooper, the Canadian representative of the wildlife trade monitoring agency TRAFFIC, attended the meeting of the United Nations body that ended on March 25.

He tells RFE/RL that the little-known Iranian salamander is a textbook example of what can happen to one species as a result of Internet trading.

"These animals sell maybe for $200-$300 a piece," he says. "Most people aren't willing to spend that kind of money for a salamander, but through the Internet, you can find the 200 or 300 people that are willing to spend that kind of money. So the Internet was absolutely instrumental in creating the market that was driving the illegal poaching and the smuggling of this species." More....