Illegal online sales of endangered wildlife rife in Europe
London, May 23: The online sale of endangered and threatened wildlife was rife across Europe, ranging from live cheetahs, orangutans, bears, polar bear skins, live reptiles and birds, a new investigation has revealed.
Researchers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) spent six weeks tracking adverts on 100 online marketplaces in four countries, the UK, Germany, France and Russia, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.
They found more than 5,000 adverts offering to sell almost 12,000 items, worth $4 million in total.
All the specimens were species in which trade is restricted or banned by the global Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.
Wildlife groups have worked with online marketplaces including eBay, Gumtree and Preloved to cut the trade and the results of the survey are an improvement compared to a previous Ifaw report in 2014.
In March, 21 technology giants including Google, eBay, Etsy, Facebook and Instagram became part of the Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, and committed to bring the online illegal trade in threatened species down by 80 per cent by 2020.
"It is great to see we are making really significant inroads into disrupting and dismantling the trade," said Tania McCrea-Steele at Ifaw. "But the scale of the trade is still enormous."
Almost 20 per cent of the adverts were for ivory, while reptiles for the pet trade were the single biggest group, making up 37 per cent, the Guardian quoted the investigation as saying.
Live turtles and tortoises were also being sold in large numbers. Endangered birds were also common, making up 31 per cent of the adverts.
Parrots were the most frequently advertised, but almost 500 owls and 350 birds of prey were also offered.
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BJP names 9 candidates for RS polls, party chief Nitin Nabin to contest from Bihar
New Delhi (PTI): BJP national president Nitin Nabin was on Tuesday nominated as the party's candidate from Bihar for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a list of nine candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, fielding its former West Bengal unit chief Rahul Sinha and Chhattisgarh unit vice-president Laxmi Verma from the respective states.
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Assam PWD Minister Jogen Mohan and MLA Terash Gowalla will be the saffron party's candidates for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament from the state.
The BJP has also nominated its Odisha unit president, Manmoham Samal, and leader Sujit Kumar, an incumbent Rajya Sabha MP, as candidates from the state for the upcoming polls.
BJP leader Shivesh Kumar will join the fray from Bihar and Sanjay Bhatia, a former Lok Sabha MP of the party, will be its candidate from Haryana. Kumar is Bihar BJP's general secretary.
The names of the candidates have been approved by the party's central election committee, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said.
