Malaysian authorities have arrested two suspected poachers from Vietnam and seized body parts from tigers and bears, a minister said Tuesday, as the country clamps down on rampant wildlife trafficking.

The Southeast Asian nation is home to swathes of jungle and a kaleidoscope of rare creatures from elephants to orangutans and tigers, but they are frequently targeted by poachers.

Two Vietnamese men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested Monday by a wildlife enforcement team in a national park in eastern Terengganu state, said Xavier Jayakumar, water, land and natural resources minister.

The men were in possession of claws and teeth from the Malayan tiger, he said. The species once roamed the jungles of Malaysia in the thousands but is now critically endangered, with just a small number believed left in the wild.

They also had teeth and claws from bears, teeth from wild boars, as well as hunting equipment including machetes, axes and wire for setting traps, the minister said.

"The two suspects have been arrested and will be remanded for three days to assist in the investigation," he said.

Tiger pelts are prized collectors' items and fetch a high price on the black market, while many animals' body parts are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia, including Vietnam and China.

China seizes nearly 2,750 elephant tusks in huge bust
Beijing (AFP) April 16, 2019 - Chinese authorities have seized 7.5 tonnes of ivory -- 2,748 elephant tusks -- in one of the biggest busts in recent years as the country cracks down on the sale of illegal wildlife products.

The country banned ivory sales at the end of 2017 in an attempt to rein in what used to be the product's largest market in the world. Imports were banned in 2015.

The smuggled tusks were confiscated last month in an operation by customs officers and police across six provinces, according to the General Administration of Customs.

"This case represents the largest amount of elephant tusks seized in a single case investigated independently by the General Administration of Customs' anti-smuggling bureau in recent years," said Sun Zhijie, director of the administration's anti-smuggling bureau.

The operation "destroyed an international criminal organisation that for a long time has specialised in smuggling ivory tusks," Sun said.

Twenty suspects were detained, he added.

The tusks were shipped by sea from African countries. After transiting through various other countries, they were smuggled across the Chinese border hidden among lumber, according to Sun.

TRAFFIC, an international NGO monitoring wildlife trade, said in a press release that the seizure was potentially the second biggest ivory seizure worldwide on record.

In a report conducted with WWF last year, the organisation found that China's ivory ban has had positive effects, with the number of respondents who said they intended to purchase ivory in the future dropping by almost half compared to 2017 before the ban took place.

Ivory is seen as a status symbol in China. Other illegal wildlife products, such as pangolin scales, continue to see demand for their supposed medicinal properties.

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Bacteria in the human body are sharing genes, even across tissue boundaries
Washington (UPI) Apr 11, 2019
Microbes in the human body are swapping genes with one another, according to a new study. Some bacteria genes can even travel across tissue barriers without their microbial hosts. Scientists were able to identify instances of "horizontal gene transfer" using a new molecular data-mining method. "Horizontal gene transfer is a major force of exchange of genetic information on Earth," Gustavo Caetano-Anollés, a professor of crop sciences and genomic biology at the University of Illinois, sa ... read more