Indonesian officials have arrested two wildlife traffickers who were caught trying to sell over six pounds of ivory (plus one raw ivory tusk), more than 1,400 pounds of elephant bones, multiple live orangutans, a tiger cub, clouded leopards and golden cats from a Muelabo storefront earlier this week. With the help of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Wildlife Crimes Unit, police were able to catch the trader who supplied the shop owner with the animals and illegal wildlife paraphernalia, who is suspected of working with hunters in Indonesia's Aceh province.
"The Wildlife Crimes Unit, in collaboration with the Indonesian authorities, has a remarkably impressive track record of arrests and prosecutions for violators of wildlife crimes," said Joe Walston, WCS's executive director for Asian programs. "They clearly demonstrate that through a combination of commitment and intelligence Indonesia can win the war against wildlife crime, which is robbing Indonesians of their natural heritage."
Indonesia is notoriously tough on wildlife traffickers and has taken great pains to put a stop to the illegal animal and ivory trades. Earlier this year, the nation's highest Islamic clerical body issued a religious edict forbidding Indonesia's 200 million Muslims -- the largest national population in the world -- from illegally hunting or trading endangered species.
The ivory trade drives a brutal campaign of international poaching that killed 22,000 elephants in 2012 alone, despite a global ban on the sale of ivory. Join us in pledging never to buy new or vintage ivory products -- which include narwhal, walrus and hippo ivory -- to help save the world's animals from poaching.
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