Green Options

Authorities in central Khanh Hoa Province have rescued and released 849 critically endangered hawksbill turtles.

Good news: 849 hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) were rescued last week from a farm in Bich Dam Hamlet in Nha Trang City.

Pangolins - scaly, toothless anteaters that resemble a giant walking artichoke - are being hunted to near extinction in Southeast Asia to meet the demands of illegal trade in pangolin meat and body parts in China.

To help raise awareness of these gentle creatures, here is a list of 11 cool facts about pangolins. Enjoy!

Disturbing information suggests that the wording of a Chinese forestry administration document is ambiguous enough to allow trade in products derived from critically endangered tigers.

According to The Times UK, wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC has sounded the alarm about a document issued by the Chinese State Forestry Administration, warning that the wording is “loose” enough to encourage China’s deplorable tiger farmers to begin processing tiger-derived products.

Current laws in Thailand make it easy for live elephants - including infant elephants stolen from their mothers in the wild - to be traded unscrupulously for “entertainment” purposes.

For many people, thoughts of Thailand conjure up romantic notions of being transported to various tourist attractions on the back of an elephant. But tragically, many of the captive elephants used for the Thai tourist trade, and as zoo and circus exports, are the victims of an insidious, illegal market that threatens the survival of endangered Asian elephants, and is responsible for widespread exploitation and abuse of these intelligent and sensitive mammals.

Thankfully, a recent report published by TRAFFIC Southeast Asia exposes the loopholes and reporting inaccuracies that have been providing a smokescreen for Thailand’s illegal trade in endangered, wild-caught Asian elephants (Elephas maximus).

On the same day that a loophole in endangered species trade law was closed, officers from the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime and Chinatown Units raided a TCM shop.

Approximately 200 products made from endangered tiger, leopard, and musk deer were seized from a “traditional Asian medicine” shop in London’s Chinatown area - a productive raid on the first day that an amended wildlife trade law came into effect.

Tiger farming in China - breeding tigers for slaughter to sell body parts - denounced by World Bank.

The World Bank has debunked the notion that tiger farming could benefit conservation of the species and stated that tiger farming “could even drive wild tigers closer to extinction.”

Dr. Susan Lieberman, director of the species program at WWF, welcomes the World Bank’s support: “Stopping all trade in tiger parts, and phasing out these tiger farms, is of the utmost urgency if the tiger is to survive in the wild.”

World Bank Director, Keshav Varma added: “Commercial trading in tiger parts and its derivatives is not in the interest of wild tiger conservation.”