The Wild Crime Report for Monday 16 June 2025
World Sea Turtle Day, seizures in India, US and a rhino horn bust in Shanghai.
Today is World Sea Turtle Day for which I assume it’s important to recognize separate to the more regular World Turtle Day (on 23 May each year).
There is something quite cool about seeing a sea turtle in its natural habitat. When there are abundant schools of fish zipping about, the slow methodical strokes of the shelled reptiles seem to resonate more with the way we humans meander through the water. At least, that’s more or less how I swim.
Even for those who aren’t adventurous divers, getting on a pair of flippers and a snorkel set, it is an enjoyable sight to see these creatures up close. I first saw them from a boat in Indonesia and then up close in the water around Sri Lanka. And like most animals you see in the wild, the idea of them being someone’s pet in a small confined box is ghastly.
Now let’s get into some information.
Wildlife seizure between India and Thailand
In what has to be the most busiest route for the illegal wildlife trade, another bust went down last week between India and Thailand. Indian Customs in Mumbai intercepted a passenger who flew from Bangkok on flight AI338 with an alphabet soup of 95 animals from tarantula spiders, iguanas, sugar gliders, tortoises, birds and a honey bear.
The passenger, not named but identified as an Indian national, is just one of many would be traffickers where smuggling between these two countries is an almost weekly occurrence.
Rhino horn seizure in China
Chinese customs announced a recent seizure of carved rhino horn pieces at the Yangshen Port in Shanghai. The detection, which was not dated, was reportedly a consignment labelled as ‘chrome ore’ and consisted of 126 pieces weighing a total of just under 40 kilograms.
The report is scant on information, as is often the way with media releases by the Chinese state but is an interesting development in terms of smaller pieces being smuggled in air cargo rather than full horns in luggage.
Shark fin seized in Mexico
Mexico announced last week that authorities stopped a vessel also bound for Shanghai China and seized 2.4 tons of shark fin. The Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (known as PROFEPA) working in conjunction with the Mexican Navy discovered the fins during an inspection in the port of Ensenada, detecting 135 sacks of various shark fin species.
Some of the species announced by officials as being seized included hammerheads and silky sharks, both of which are listed as CITES Appendix II, meaning that trade is prohibited without approvals and export permits. Which these cheeky sailors clearly didn’t have.
Spider monkeys seized in Texas
A woman was caught at the Mexican/US border in Brownsville, Texas in possession of two spider monkeys two Fridays ago. San Antonio woman Johana Mar was found to have the two monkeys, both infants, in a bag in her vehicle when border officials stopped her at the Gateway International Bridge.
Mar was reported to have received the monkeys from ‘a friend who she only communicates with through WhatsApp and Facebook’. Ah yes, one of those sorts of friends. Her case has now been passed on to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service where she will be investigated for unlawful transportation of wildlife.
Amazon parrots smuggled into San Diego
Another cross border wildlife seizure between Mexico and the US, this time in San Diego where officials detected 7 Amazonian parrots, being crudely smuggled in a cardboard box via a vehicle.
The suspect, 24 year old Juandaniel Medina, is reported to have purchased the birds for $700 with the intention of breeding them in the USA. The birds, identified as Red Lored Amazon Parrots, are CITES Appendix II species and in demand on the bird market for their appearance as well as their ability to mimic humans. Medina’s charges for unlawful importation carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and $250,000 fine.
Stay wild.