Animals

An investigator has called on the international body that polices trade in wildlife to crack down on the illegal trafficking of young elephants across borders in south-east Asia. Secretive agents in Laos are sending dozens of animals each year across the country’s land border with China and fly others to the Middle East, earning up ...

A shocking video and new intelligence suggest that legal and illegal captive tiger facilities fuel Asia’s tiger trafficking—with brutal efficiency. Keep reading ...

According to the best estimates, some 100,000 tigers used to roam through parts of Asia. But that was more than a century ago. Today, experts estimate that worldwide only some 3,800 tigers have survived in the wild. This marks a slight improvement for the big ...

The British Embassy in Yangon launched a regional short-film competition on Thursday as part of a UK government initiative to combat the global illegal wildlife trade (IWT). The UK government, in association with the Luang Prabang Film Festival, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Wildlife ...

The Thai authorities on Wednesday morning rescued some 40 live pangolins, weighed 200kg in total, that were smuggled in 10 sacks in a boat across the Mekong River into Chiang Rai’s Wiang Kaen district to be sold to restaurants and medicine shops. The pangolins were ...

China deserves credit for shutting down the illegal trading in elephant ivory that has contributed in recent years to the killing of thousands of African pachyderms. But much credit should also go to international nongovernment organizations that have championed the elephants’ cause and raised public ...

Many elephants are being hunted for their skin across Asia and the problem is reaching a crisis point, said a report released yesterday by an international NGO that is dedicated to protecting the animals from extinction. Keep reading ...

The Mekong River ecosystem has been devastated from rising water levels during the dry season, as upstream dams in China discharge water to facilitate navigation in the river. Keep reading ...

Conservationists have found 20 nests of the critically endangered Asian Giant Softshell Turtle, containing a total of 663 eggs, in Mekong River sandbars in Kratie province, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced on Wednesday. Keep reading ...

Unquestionably, construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta is the man of the moment. His name is on everyone’s lips, after he and three of his entourage were arrested and charged with poaching in Unesco’s World Heritage Thungyai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary on Feb 4.  []There are reasons to believe hunting ...