Smugglers & Poachers

Three people were arrested for trying to smuggle geckos out of New Zealand. (News source.)

Six people were arrested in South Africa for trading in leopard tortoises. (News source.)

Croc News

A Frenchman and Burundi resident is trying to hunt down Gustave, that country's infamous killer crocodile. (News source.)

A Uganda minister is trying to make it legal for residents to kill (and eat) crocodiles, which are a constant danger in that country. (News source.)

Mugger crocs in Iran are seriously on the decline due to poaching and habitat loss. (News source.)

A well-known large American crocodile, Wilma, on Sanibel, has been found dead. (News source.)

Snake Poacher

Arizona G&F prosecuted a snake/turtle poacher in 2009. (News source.)

Gopher Tortoise Poaching

Someone has killed and eaten at least 13 gopher tortoises in the Wabasso Scrub Conservation Area (Florida). (News source.)

Famous Local Gator Not Poached

The Georgia gator that was feared poached turned up alive, and the carcass has been traced to a suspect. (News source.)

Turtles & the Law

A Massachusetts developer has run into restrictions from box turtle conservation requirements. (News source.)

The US Army wants to relocate 1100 endangered California desert tortoises. (News source.)

The USFWS is reviewing the desert tortoise for possible ESA inclusion. (News source.)

A Canadian turtle keeper was sentenced to nine months in jail for keeping threatened species, mostly Blanding's turtles. (News source.)

Sea turtles and their eggs will be banned for possession, consumption, etc., in the Bahamas soon. (News source.)

Vietnamese officials seized 10 tons of tortoise and pangolin shells smuggled in from Indonesia. (News source.)

Poachers continue to threaten the Madagascar spider tortoise. (News source.)

Poachers Kill Gator

A 9-foot gator was killed by poachers in Evans, Georgia. (News source.)

Sea Turtle Smuggling

Indonesian police seized 45 poached green sea turtles. (News source.)

Turtle Legal Issues

Florida has introduced their new rules on taking freshwater turtles. (News source.)

A Maldives resort could be in trouble for their unlicensed "conservation" project with sea turtle eggs. (News source.)

A nearly $3 million "ecopassage" under a busy Florida highway is mostly to save turtles (and protect motorists), but is controversial in Congress. (News source.)

Polish customs officials arrested a Ukrainian man for smuggling tortoises. (News source.)

A Filipino man was arrested in Malaysia for smuggling/selling turtle eggs. (News source.)

Turtle Woes

About twenty snapping turtles in North Dakota were killed by a bacterial outbreak. (News source.)

Poachers took out four sea turtle nests on Sarasota Co., FL, beaches. (News source.)

Poachers

India officials are cracking down on frog poaching. (News source.)

An Indian national was arrested for smuggling turtles and fish. (News source.)

Turtle News

Indonesians on the island of Runduma are protecting the local sea turtles now, instead of using their eggs. (News source.)

The rare western pond turtle found in Washington state recently turns out to be an escaped family pet, but the owners probably won't get it back. (News source.)

Emergency fishing regs put into effect banning longlines in the Gulf of Mexico may become permanent. Longlines injure sea turtles and other non-target species. (News source.)

Dead turtles turning up in Menasha, WI, are worrying conservationists. (News source.)

A Florida man was charged with poaching sea turtle eggs. (News source.)

Sea Turtle Egg Thief

A man has been arrested in Florida for poaching 119 sea turtle eggs. (News source.)

More on Operation Shellshock

Details on the poaching aspect from the pine barrens, here.

Multi-State Herp Bust

Canada and NY are pushing the p.r. on a recent illegal reptile trade bust; other state's efforts (like Pennsylvania) will probably follow soon. Aspects include smuggling massasaugas across the Canadian border, selling eastern box turtles online, and selling wild-collected snapping turtles from New York to a turtle farm in Louisiana where they were shipped to Asia mixed in with legally farmed turtles. But, of course, the publicity will focus on the "unnatural" aspects of keeping reptiles in general, the "lucrative" and implied widespread business of poaching native species, etc., rather than the very small number of people involved when considering the reptile hobby as a whole.

Details here, here, and here.

Herp Crimes

Three Florida teenagers were charged with poaching alligators. (News source.)

Gassing dens for rattlesnakes is now outlawed in Alabama. (News source.)

A gang of Indian venom smugglers was caught with king cobra venom. (News source.)

Eggs Seized

3000 yellow-spotted river turtle eggs were confiscated by the Colombian navy near the Venezuelan border. (News source.)

Herp Crimes

Someone stole an albino timber rattler and an Ethiopian small-eyed viper from Victoria Reptiles in Florida. (News source.)

Four men in India were arrested for possession of 150 rare tortoises. (News source.)

Herp Legality News

Hard to believe that there are still ignorant herp laws out there, but a 3-foot ball python was recently confiscated from a Sioux City, Iowa, home. (News source.)

On a more positive note, a Delaware county is proposing to allow (small) snakes to be bred by residents. (News source.)

In Malaysia, 2300 monitor lizards were confiscated from poachers. (News source.)

Poached Monitors Seized

Malaysian authorities confiscated 600 clouded monitor lizards being smuggled out of the country. (News source.)