The shop is dark and deserted. Though the door is open, there is clearly no expectation of any customers walking in off the street. Visits are likely by appointment and from a specific clientele. This shop is part of an organised crime network. What is being sold is highly illegal and incredibly unethical. Anyone wandering in would see large bags of specialist tea, local coffee, trinkets and cigarettes on the shelves. But the photographs of wild animals adorning the walls offer a clue to what is truly for sale here.…
Tag: Wildlife
Undercover in Laos: how Chinese tourism fuels animal trafficking – video
Chinese tourism is booming in Laos and the illegal wildlife trade is booming with it. Pangolin scales, rhino horn and elephant ivory are all being sold at secret shops and restaurants as a new high-speed rail line brings millions of visitors to the country. Working with Chinese activists, the Guardian goes undercover to investigate the criminal networks profiting from this trade and to reveal how wildlife trafficking is pushing the critically endangered pangolin ever closer to extinction The Guardian
Venomous snakes escape breeding farms in southern China during flooding
Hundreds of snakes, including cobras, have escaped from flooded breeding farms in southern China as severe storms continue to batter parts of the country. State media reported that a snake farm in Hengzhou, in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was hit by flood waters after days of heavy rainfall caused by typhoon Maysak, prompting warnings for nearby residents. A dramatic video shared by state media showing local people using dip nets to catch snakes and a cobra poking its head above a torrent of muddy water went viral. Local media reported…
Smuggled in syringes: how Nairobi became a nexus for the black market in giant harvester ants
In the biblical text Book of Proverbs, King Solomon describes the harvester ant as a model of wisdom and industriousness: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” Almost 3,000 years later, the thriving international parallel market for a distinct species of the ant native to east Africa has been thrust into the global spotlight after a series of convictions in Kenya for ant smuggling. In the most recent case, Zhang Kequn, a Chinese national, was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 1 million…
Ant smuggler sentenced to a year in jail by Kenyan court
A Chinese national has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined by a Nairobi court for attempting to smuggle thousands of ants out of Kenya, a lucrative trade in east Africa that was exposed last year. The insects are mostly destined for China, the US and Europe, where they become pets and can be worth about $100 each. Ant smuggling made headlines last year when two Belgian teenagers were arrested in possession of nearly 5,000 ants, mostly stored in small test tubes. They were fined about $7,700. Zhang…
‘It smells like a rancid fish and chip shop’: at sea with the Antarctic’s krill supertrawlers
It is bitterly cold on the deck of the Allankay and the bosun, Luca Massari, is checking that none of us are wearing contact lenses before we descend into Antarctic waters. There is a risk, he warns, that lenses will freeze solid over the eyes. Massari himself is prepared for his surroundings. He is wearing thick goggles that make him look like an Olympic ski jumper. Massari is a burly, heavily tattooed veteran of the environmental organisation Sea Shepherd, which campaigns against exploitating the oceans. His deck team are preparing…
Mining’s toxic timebomb: dams full of poisonous waste are dotted around the world. What happens when they burst?
As soon as the barrier broke, a flood of poison brought death to the river. Gushing through the fragile wall built to hold back mining waste in Zambia’s copper belt in February 2025, more than 50m cubic litres of acid and heavy metals poured into the Chambishi stream – a tributary of the Kafue River, the country’s longest waterway. Thousands of lifeless fish rose to the surface as a plume of acid floated downriver, leaving dead crocodiles and other wildlife in its wake. For the millions of Zambians that depend…
China’s Yangtze River shows signs of remarkable recovery after fishing ban
The Yangtze River in China, which has been in ecological decline for 70 years, is showing signs of recovery thanks to a sweeping fishing ban. The ban was made more effective by the implementation of “evolutionary game theory”, which included finding alternative employment for fishers. One veteran biologist said it was the most positive freshwater conservation story he had seen anywhere in the world in 20 years. “It is really fantastic news. It is one of the first times that we can say that government measures have not just worked,…
‘Mad fishing’: the super-size fleet of squid catchers plundering the high seas
In a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. “Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic,” says Cdr Mauricio López, of the monitoring department. “It’s creating a serious environmental problem.” Just beyond Argentina’s maritime frontier, hundreds of foreign vessels – known as the distant-water fishing fleet – are descending on Mile 201, a largely…
Cuddling capybaras and ogling otters: the problem with animal cafes in Asia
The second floor of an unassuming office building in central Bangkok is a strange place to encounter the world’s largest rodent. Yet here, inside a small enclosure with a shallow pool, three capybaras are at the disposal of dozens of paying customers – all clamouring for a selfie. As people eagerly thrust leafy snacks toward the nonchalant-looking animals, few seem to consider the underlying peculiarity: how, exactly, did this South American rodent end up more than 10,000 miles from home, in a bustling Asian metropolis? Capybara cafes have been cropping…