::African elephants at risk, record ivory seizures: CITES
More than 20,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory in 2013, driven by demand in China and Thailand, and some local populations face an immediate threat of extinction, a U.N.-linked wildlife conservation agency said on Friday.
Criminal gangs and rebel militias hunt dwindling herds for tusks that fetch many thousands of dollars per kilo, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species said.
"Today we are confronting a situation of industrial-scale poaching and smuggling, the involvement of organized transnational criminal organizations, the involvement of rebel militia," CITES secretary-general John Scanlon told a briefing. |
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::Vietnam seizes endangered elephants’ tusks from France
Ho Chi Minh City customs officers have seized 14.6 kilograms of elephant tusks, reportedly belonging to a protected species, in a smuggled shipment from France.
The express shipment contained three pieces of elephant tusks, which were worth an estimated VND3 billion (US$141,500), according to a customs department statement on Wednesday.
The seizure was made on August 1. The tusks were meant for a consignee in Da Nang City, central Vietnam. |
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::Cleaver killer hangs self in prison outside Hanoi
The northern Vietnamese man who slashed his grandmother, parents and a cousin to death in their home outside Hanoi hung himself to death in his cell on Monday.
Pham Duy Quy, 21, allegedly killed himself with a mosquito net in his cell at Kim Chi Prison in Hai Duong Province at 3:35 p.m., according to a statement issued by the provincial police. |
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::Taxi driver kills xe om man in front of Saigon zoo
A Vinasun taxi driver was arrested this morning for allegedly killing a motorbike taxi driver, reportedly in a fight over passengers, in front of Ho Chi Minh City's zoo. |
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