Million-Dollar Seizure of Shark Fins Leads to Lenient Fine in Ecuador

The alleged exporter of a shipment of 26 tons of illegal shark fins from Ecuador to Hong Kong has received a fine of a few thousand dollars, showing how people…

How Many Creepy-Crawlies Can a Trafficker Hide in His Luggage?

There is one crucial quality for any successful wildlife trafficker: tenacity. And Kirill Kravchenko had it in spades.

Brazilian Authorities Clamp Down on Cattle Theft

A number of arrests made to tackle a sophisticated cattle rustling operation in Brazil have suggested authorities are stepping up efforts to target the crime.

Fishing Cooperatives Used to Mask Drug Shipments into Mexico

Mexico's largest criminal groups are outsourcing the retrieval of cocaine shipments to smaller groups posing as fishing cooperatives, providing another example of how maritime infrastructure is subverted by the drug…

Coca Replaced by Cattle - The Shift in Southern Colombia's Deforestation

Living two weeks in the jungle wasn't bad really. While spending eight hours a day felling trees with an axe and a chainsaw wasn't exactly a holiday, it did create…

Fishermen Call for Aid Against Illegal Fishing in Yucatán, Mexico

Illegal fishing is out of control in the Mexican state of Yucatán, say local fishermen and media, as illegal techniques, competition from out-of-state vessels and dwindling fisheries combine to threaten…

5 Reasons For Record Deforestation in Colombia

Recently published data has shown that deforestation in Colombia soared last year, as a number of illegal activities drove forest loss.

How 'Narco-Highway' in Honduras Became National News

The future of a controversial highway in Honduras, thought to be a conduit for drug trafficking, remains uncertain as the government and local associations remain at each other's throats.

Eat Them or Extradite Them - What to Do With Pablo Escobar's Hippos?

Colombia's hippos are a well-documented problem. Growing astonishingly fast in number, potentially devastating to the local ecosystem and perhaps lethal to humans, plenty of solutions have been proposed.

Cuba Quietly Admits to Wildlife Trafficking Problem

Though Cuba's illegal animal trade rarely makes headlines, its government has quietly raised alarms with a new wildlife trafficking law.

3 Security Challenges Facing Peru’s Incoming President

In arguably the most polarizing election Peru has seen in its history, voters have selected, by a razor-thin margin, a leftist rural school teacher over the daughter of a former…

Chinese Fishing Fleet Still Baits Argentina

China’s distant-water fishing fleet is once again engaging in suspicious and potentially illegal fishing near Argentinean waters, demonstrating the limits of both regional and Chinese government attempts to rope in…