TheRepublic.com - Animal poaching and smuggling News

Sandoval signs illegal wildlife bill

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:20:17 -0400

CARSON CITY, Nevada - Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed a bill making it illegal to possess any wildlife that was hunted, acquired or transported from another state or country in violation of laws or regulations.

UN: Poaching threatens central Africa peace

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:42:19 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - The illegal trade in elephant ivory may constitute an important source of funding for armed groups, including the Lord's Resistance Army, threatening peace and security in central Africa, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council.

4 Louisiana men convicted of deer poaching in Iowa

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:05:24 -0400

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - Four Louisiana men have been found guilty of poaching deer in southwest Iowa.

State closes Unit 23 muskox hunting season

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:02:04 -0400

KOTZEBUE, Alaska - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is closing a muskox hunting season because of illegal killing of animals.

Father, son sentenced in rhino horn smuggling case

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:20:41 -0400

LOS ANGELES - A California father and son who orchestrated an international ring that smuggled rhinoceros horns that led to an increase in poaching in Africa were sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison.

Wildlife ranger fined for poaching mule deer

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:35:55 -0400

DENVER - A Colorado Parks and Wildlife ranger has been fined and demoted for using artificial light while poaching a trophy mule deer after legal hunting hours last October.

Elephant protectors in Kenya arrested with ivory

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:24:59 -0400

NAIROBI, Kenya - Authorities say that two employees of an elephant conservation group in one of Kenya's most popular wildlife parks have been charged with ivory smuggling.

Thailand animal sanctuary owner decries charges

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:08:11 -0400

KAO LOOK CHANG, Thailand - For more than a decade, a sprawling wildlife refuge south of Bangkok has been rehabilitating and caring for animals abandoned or abused by their owners. The sanctuary, run by a nonprofit organization, has won international acclaim for its work, and volunteers come from around the world to help care for the hundreds of animals there. But the sanctuary's mission has hit a nerve with local authorities: Its owner is now on trial for illegal possession of endangered species, charges he says show the political clout of poachers and others who profit from the lucrative trade on exotic wildlife.

Minn. DNR to use dogs in zebra mussel fight

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:57:07 -0400

ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Minnesota conservation officers will get help this year in the fight against zebra mussels from three dogs specially trained to sniff out the tiny invasive species.

WWF: Seleka rebels from CAR invade elephant park

Tue, 07 May 2013 13:28:03 -0400

DAKAR, Senegal - The WWF said in a statement that suspected poachers belonging to the Seleka rebel group have entered one of Africa's most unique elephant habitats in the Central African Republic, and park guards saw them shooting in the direction of elephants.

Chinese actress feeds Kenya's orphan elephants

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:30:05 -0400

NAIROBI, Kenya - Chinese actress Li Bingbing is in Kenya to bring attention to the growing problem of elephants slaughtered for the international ivory trade.

NH officers charge 2 men with poaching baby eels

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:24:11 -0400

CONCORD, New Hampshire - New Hampshire Fish and Game officers have two men in custody and two buckets of baby eels as evidence of what they say is part of an international eel-poaching operation believed to be driven by a worldwide shortage of eels.

Expert: Rhino population wiped out in Mozambique

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:39:13 -0400

JOHANNESBURG - Mozambique's rhinoceros population was wiped out more than a century ago by big game hunters. Reconstituted several years ago, the beasts again are on the brink of vanishing from the country by poachers seeking their horns for sale in Asia.

DNR: Reward offered in poaching crime

Thu, 02 May 2013 05:07:07 -0400

MADISON, Wisconsin - A Wisconsin game organization is offering a $500 reward for a tip that leads to a conviction in a bear poaching case in St. Croix (KROY) County.

2 arrested, accused of illegal alligator hunting

Wed, 01 May 2013 10:27:12 -0400

GONZALES, Louisiana - Two men arrested for allegedly trespassing on Alligator Bayou Swamp Tours property in Ascension Parish also were cited on an array of alligator hunting violations.

Leads sought after eagle killed in Clinton County

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:37:04 -0400

DeWITT TOWNSHIP, Michigan - The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says it's trying to catch the poacher who shot and killed a bald eagle in a rural area north of Lansing.

7 charged with smuggling fish bladders to China

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:44:53 -0400

SAN DIEGO - Seven people have been charged with smuggling bladders from an endangered fish in what authorities said Wednesday may be a growing international practice in which the bladders are sold for more than $10,000 each to be used in a highly desired soup.

South Africa: fight over rhino poaching escalates

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:51:28 -0400

JOHANNESBURG - A U.S. firm recently gave smart phones to some game rangers in South Africa to help them track poachers who kill rhinos for their horns. An anti-poaching ad campaign in Vietnam, a key illegal market, shows rhinos with human hands or feet in place of horns, which are made from the same material as fingernails and toenails.