Mongabay.com: Latin American illegal wildlife trade exploding in scope and scale

Mongabay Series: Latin American Wildlife Trade 4th November 2015 / Laurel A. Neme Millions of tropical birds, sharks, sea cucumbers, totoaba, queen conch, sea turtles, caimans and a vast number of other animals are falling victim to wildlife trafficking. Latin America is astoundingly biologically diverse, while its enforcement of wildlife trading laws is extremely weak, creating the perfect…

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National Geographic: Hong Kong ‘Open-Minded’ to Banning its Ivory Trade

In a major policy shift, the world’s largest legal ivory market pledges new efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and may end ivory sales. By Laurel Neme, for National Geographic PUBLISHED October 28, 2015 Hong Kong—the world’s largest retail market for elephant ivory—says it may now consider banning its ivory trade. Hong Kong is also a major transit hub for…

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Huffington Post: How Legal Markets Fuel Ivory Smuggling in Hong Kong

Posted: 10/27/2015  Hong Kong’s legal ivory market fuels ivory smuggling and elephant poaching says a new report by WildAid, an international nongovernmental organization that aims to eliminate illegal wildlife trade. Together with undercover video by independent investigators provided to WildAid and WWF-Hong Kong, the report, Illusion of Control, released Oct 23 in Hong Kong, reveals that ivory traders…

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National Geographic: How World’s Largest Legal Ivory Market Fuels Demand for Illegal Ivory

New report shows that limited oversight of Hong Kong’s ivory traders allows laundering of illegal ivory through legal markets.   By Laurel Neme, for National Geographic PUBLISHED October 22, 2015   A new report by WildAid, an international nongovernmental organization that aims to eliminate illegal wildlife trade, together with undercover video by independent investigators provided to WildAid and WWF-Hong Kong,…

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National Geographic: East African Smugglers Push Ivory Out of the Continent

Posted by Laurel Neme in A Voice for Elephants on September 18, 2015   Elephant poaching and ivory trafficking in East Africa is driven not only by foreign consumers but also by African nationals who actively “push” ivory to these markets. A recent report, Pushing Ivory Out of Africa: A Criminal Intelligence of Elephant Poaching and Ivory Trafficking in East Africa,…

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National Geographic: To Stem Thriving Online U.S. Ivory Market, Stronger Laws and Enforcement Needed, Says Author of New Report

First posted on 2015-05-18     To Stem Thriving Online U.S. Ivory Market, Stronger Laws and Enforcement Needed, Says Author of New Report Posted by Laurel Neme in A Voice for Elephants on May 8, 2015   Images: Craigslist.org via “Elephant vs. Mouse” report by IFAW and 96elephants.org In a new report, Elephant vs. Mouse, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)…

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Wisconsin Public Radio: Kathleen Dunn Show

  Laurel Neme on Wisconsin Public Radio’s The Kathleen Dunn Show       Along-tailed macaque kept in a small cage while on sale at a local market in Medan. Northern Sumatra, 2003. Trading To Extinction February 13, 2014 – 1:00pm Share:      ListenDownload Average: 4.5 (2 votes) Tomorrow the UK government hosts the London Conference on the…

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USA Today Cites Laurel Neme’s Work

The following USA Today article disputes Laurel Neme’s Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times on Terrorism and the Ivory Trade.   Illegal ivory may not be funding African terror group Tristan McConnell, GlobalPost 10:41 a.m. EST November 14, 2014 (Photo: Jason Straziuso, AP) 41 CONNECT 37 TWEETLINKEDIN 1 COMMENTEMAILMORE NAIROBI, Kenya — Hollywood director Kathryn Bigelow has made a 3-minute animated short…

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Chinese diplomats collude with Tanzanian officials to smuggle ivory

Stunning NYT article ties Chinese Presidential delegation to illegal ivory purchases with collusion of Tanzanian officials. Scary to think how much involvement exists by high-level authorities on both sides of black market supply and demand. See: http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/chinese-presidents-delegation-tied-to-illegal-ivory-purchases-during-africa-visit/?_r=0

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