Over 26 days in June, world law enforcement officers recovered dolphins and sharks, lion and tiger cubs, nearly two dozen primates and more than 10,000 reptiles, birds and marine animals, Interpol said on Wednesday, announcing the results of a major operation against wildlife traffickers. The campaign, called Operation Thunderball, was coordinated by Interpol and the World Customs Organization and spanned 109 countries. Twenty-one people were arrested in Spain, three people were arrested in Uruguay and nearly 600 people were identified as suspects in wildlife and timber trafficking, according to Interpol. In all, the world agencies and local authorities carried out almost 2,000 seizures, including thousands of live plants and animals, half a ton of ivory and more than 70 truckloads of timber. Ginette Hemley, the senior vice president for wildlife conservation at the World Wildlife Fund, called the scope of the operation “breathtaking,” and said it “underscores why international cooperation is so important to addressing this deadly criminal activity.”

Source: International New York Times July 11, 2019 00:00 UTC