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Environmental officers seize thousands of illegal wildlife

Mexico City, Mexico — Already this year, Profepa officers have seized nearly 11,000 illegal wildlife products.

La Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (Profepa) reports that already in 2019, federal officers from around the country have sezied nearly 11,000 wildlife products in a bid to curb illegal trafficking.

The federal agency says the products were discovered during routine inspections and surveillance operations in coordination with different institutions including the Attorney General’s Office, federal police, ministerial state and municipal police.

So far this year, the agency has deployed more than 84 operations for illegal trafficking of species in various parts of the country. They add that aside from deployment operations, they maintain constant vigilance in at least 93 Natural Protected Areas.

They say that between March and April alone, they seized 526 live parrots that were being illegally smuggled for sale. The seizure was made by the federal police at a screening filter in the municipality of Chalco, State of Mexico.

Profepa says that other seized species include various monkeys, felines such as jaguars, ocelots, cougars and wildcats, 22 species of birds including macaws and parrots, among others. They also list 443 reptiles, birds of prey including hawks and a Golden Eagle, fish and other marine species such as seahorses, sea cucumbers and coral.

Their extensive list of illegal seizures also includes plants such as orchids, peyote, palms and woods like granadillo, rosewood, cocobolo, cedar and pine.

La Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente says one of their biggest assets has been citizen complaints, which has allowed the federal agency to rescue and release live specimens such as birds, reptiles and mammals back into the wild.