Man jailed for smuggling iguana meat into U.S.A.

A Las Vegas man who tried to sneak 115 oven-ready iguanas into the United States from Mexico has been sentenced to two years in prison for illegally importing the reptiles, authorities said on Thursday. A federal judge ordered Eliodoro Soria Fonseca, 38, to serve 24 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of California said.

Fonseca was arrested as he tried to cross into California through the Otay Mesa port of entry, south of San Diego, last June with the iguana meat packed in coolers. A search found the beheaded, skinned, and deboned bodies of 115 green iguanas weighing 159 pounds (72 kg) hidden beneath fish in the coolers.

“According to admissions in his guilty plea, the defendant imported the iguana meat for the purpose of serving it as food to humans,” the attorney’s office said in a press release.Green iguanas are eaten in Mexico and Central America. They are enjoyed in stews or roasted and served in tacos or flautas, usually with condiments. Some recipes recommend parboiling the reptiles first.

But iguanas are also regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). While they are not endangered, CITES say they may become threatened if trade is not tightly controlled. Fonseca, who said he obtained the iguanas in Nayarit in western Mexico, had neither an import license from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nor any CITES permit from Mexico’s wildlife management authority.

According to sentencing documents, a researcher working for an iguana conservation program in Mexico concluded that removing more than 100 iguanas from the Nayarit area essentially “means that the local population was technically wiped out.”

Source:  (By Wango Wango) http://horn.so

Cobras in Papaya

GEORGE TOWN - A shipment declared as papayas was found to contain hundreds of cobras and freshwater turtles worth some RM110,000 (S$45,000) meant for the cooking pot in Hong Kong.

The animals were rescued by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) in a joint raid with the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services at the KL Airport Services local cargo complex in Batu Maung near here.

Penang Perhilitan director Jamalun Nasir Ibrahim said the 555 cobras and 171 turtles were found inside 80 polystyrene boxes which were kept among 100 boxes of papayas in a container.

The shipment, he said, was declared as papayas bound for Hong Kong. He said the driver of the lorry transporting the container was arrested during the raid around 4.30am on Wednesday.

"We arrested the driver, who is in his 40s, to facilitate investigations to track down the mastermind," Jamalun said yesterday.

 

He believed a syndicate was behind the smuggling of the giant Asian pond turtles (Heosemys grandis) and the monocellate cobra (Naja kaouthia).

"We believe the animals were to be smuggled out to meet the demand for exotic animal dishes," he added.

Jamalun said the cobras could fetch RM200 each for the bigger ones and about RM800 each for smaller ones while the turtles cost about RM200 each.

Both species, he said, were listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which meant that trading in them was only permitted with an export permit and certificate of origin.

Based on the shipment's documentation, he said, the papayas were harvested from a farm in Kedah.

Jamalun said the case was being investigated under Section 10 of the International Trade in Endangered Species Act that carries a fine of not more than RM100,000 for each animal but not more than RM1mil in aggregate, or a maximum seven-year jail term or both.

Source: thestar.com

Wildlife Dept Seizes Over 900 Protected Animals

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks seized over 900 protected animals valued at about RM35,000 in a raid on a cowshed in Jalan Lama Riverside, Bedong, yesterday.

Kedah Wildlife and National Parks director Rahim Ahmad said today monitor lizards and snakes were found in a cage that was hidden in a container while tortoises were found in plastic baskets near the cowshed.

He said the raid was conducted at 2 pm after the cowshed was placed under surveillance for several days following a tip-off that wild animals were being kept for sale at the premises.

“Among the animals seized were 287 monitor lizards, 189 snakes, 30 tortoises, 272 coura amboinesis tortoises and 124 big tortoises,” he told reporters.

Members of the public with information on crimes related to protected animals can contact the Kedah Wildlife and National Parks Department at 04-7312200, he said.

Resource: Bernama

Perhilitan Seizes 449 Various Wildlife

ALOR SETAR, 27 OCTOBER, 2011: The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) seized 449 various types of wildlife, believed to be for export, during a raid on a house at Kampung Kandis, Kodiang, about 40 kilometres from here, yesterday.

According to Kuala Lumpur Perhilitan enforcement officer Celescoriano Razond, a total of 302 Asian cobras (Naja Naja), 146 Malayan box turtles (Coura Amboinesis) and a long-tailed macaque (Macaca Fascicularis) were seized.

The seizure of the exotic animals was made in accordance with the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (Act 716), he told reporters at the Perhilitan office in Bukit Pinang, near here, today.

Celescoriano said the animals were found locked under the house owned by a Malay man in his 40s, as well as at the front and backyard of the house for the past three weeks.

"The exotic animals, owned by a Chinese man in his 30s, believed to be the employer of the Malay man, were kept temporarily to be sent overseas," he said, adding that the animals were bought by the Chinese man from local people in Perlis.

He said both men were detained at the Jitra Police station lock-up for further investigation.

Keeping the male Asian cobras, the male Malayan box turtles, and the long-tailed macaque is an offence and offenders could be charged under Section 60(1)(a) of the Wildlife Conservation Act (Act 716), which carries a fine of up to RM50,000 and imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both.

Celescoriano said if the Asian cobras and Malayan box turtles were females, the offence comes under Section 62 of the same Act, which carries a fine of up to RM100,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.

Resource article: Bernama

100 star tortoises seized in Malaysia

Indian Star Tortoises are in high demand in the international pet trade © Chris R Shepherd / TRAFFIC Southeast Asia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 14th September 2011—Authorities in Peninsular Malaysia yesterday discovered and seized 100 Indian Star Tortoises, packed in a plastic container at a business premises.

The Indian Star Tortoise Geochelone elegans is legally protected by Malaysia’s Wildlife Conservation Act 2010. It is highly prized and remains a target for the international pet trade, despite being afforded legal protection in its range countries of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, all of whom have banned the species’s international commercial export.

Peninsular Malaysia Wildlife Department’s Crime Unit (WCU) seized the tortoises while inspecting a warehouse that deals with aquaculture products, in the state of Melaka.

Department officers detained a man after he failed to produce valid documentation for possession of the protected animals.

In addition, the owner of the premises does not hold a wildlife business licence from the Department.

“We congratulate the Wildlife Department and call on them to come down hard and make an example of this offender if he is found guilty,” said Chris Shepherd, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia Deputy Regional Director.

“It’s traders like this who are giving Malaysia a reputation as an illegal wildlife trade hub: punishing them to the full extent of the law will demonstrate that Malaysia is serious about stamping out illegal wildlife trade.”

The Department has lodged a police report on the man who has been summoned to court where he is expected to be charged under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 on counts of possession of protected species.

He could also be charged under the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008, which carries a maximum penalty of a MYR 1 million (USD 379,000) fine or imprisonment of up to seven years.

“TRAFFIC urges the Wildlife Department to arrange for the urgent repatriation of the animals seized yesterday,” said Shepherd.

“We also look forward to a publicly available list of licenced wildlife businesses so the public can make informed and responsible purchases, which will go a long way towards stemming the illegal wildlife trade.”

Just under a month ago, 589 Indian Star Tortoises were seized at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, although no arrest was made on that occasion.

Resource article: traffic.org