International police agency Interpol announced Thursday that nearly 30,000 live animals have been rescued in a month-long global operation against wildlife trafficking that has resulted in a record number of seizures.
Operation Thunder 2025, which ran from September 15 to October 15, involved law enforcement and wildlife and forestry authorities from 134 countries and resulted in more than 4,600 separate seizures, including tens of thousands of protected animals and plants, and tens of thousands of cubic meters of illegally logged timber.
Interpol said the rescued animals included 6,160 birds, 2,040 turtles and tortoises, 1,150 reptiles, 208 primates, 10 big cats and an endangered tiger.
Trafficking in wild animals for sale as animal parts or exotic pets is the most prominent danger to many endangered species and has become a major transnational organized crime.
Interpol said wildlife crime is worth at least $20 billion a year, and probably more because it is difficult to track. The global operation has identified more than 1,000 suspects involved in the illegal wildlife trade, according to Interpol.
“Operation Thunder has once again exposed the sophistication and scale of criminal networks that drive the illegal trade in wildlife and forestry,” Interpol Secretary-General Valdesi Urquiza said in a statement.
Animal parts were also seized, including 1,900 pieces of elephant ivory, more than 200 tonnes of marine life, and seven tonnes of pangolin scales and meat. Pangolins are small nocturnal mammals covered in scales and are sometimes called scaly anteaters. It is often ranked as the most trafficked animal in the world due to its scales used in traditional medicine and its meat, which is considered a delicacy.
Interpol said its annual month-long anti-trafficking operation resulted in seizures around the world, including Europe and North America. More than 40 shipments of insects and 80 shipments of butterflies originating from Germany, Slovakia and the United Kingdom were intercepted at U.S. mail centers, Interpol said.
Another package received at a North American mail center contained more than 1,300 primate body parts, including bones and skulls.
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