WEEKLY NEWS Did You Know ? TURTLES AND TORTOISES IN SEVERE DANGER
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BY Michael SALES
The global illegal trade in wildlife is worth an estimated US$19 billion annually and is the largest crime sector after drugs, counterfeiting and human trafficking. Among the many thousands of animal and plant species under threat from illegal trade, turtles and tortoises have become a multi-million-dollar criminal industry. The threats come from poaching for the pet trade, food and traditional medicine. As of 2026, it remains a critical global conservation challenge due to the slow reproductive cycles of these animals, where the removal of even a few adults can lead to local population collapses. Lucrative markets for this trade include the exotic pet trade, with
high demand in Asia, Europe and the U.S., especially for the Indian star tortoise and eastern box turtle. Marine turtles are poached for meat and eggs, while their shells are used for jewellery and artefacts. Criminal gangs employ a number of sophisticated smuggling techniques, such as hiding turtles within falsely labelled packages. Major hotspots include Mexico, where a 2025 bust uncovered over
2,300 wild-caught freshwater turtles, including the critically endangered Vallarta mud turtle. In China, the coastal cities of Hainan and Zhoushan were designated as major trafficking hubs for sea turtle products. Vietnam also has a reputation for illegal trading in marine turtles and eggs. Nearly all sea turtles and many freshwater species are protected
under CITES Appendix I or II, prohibiting or strictly regulating international trade. Efforts like Operation Thunder (2025) and Dragon have led to thousands of rescues and numerous arrests of traffickers. Sea turtles are flagship megaherbivores and have profound impacts on seagrass and coral reef ecosystems. In Costa Rica, sea turtle eggs are illegally harvested and traded to
procure drugs. In East Asia, 128 criminal cases were seized from 2000 to 2008, involving 2,062 specimens, 6,161 products, 919 kg of shells and 789 shell pieces. In China, sea turtle consumption has traditionally been
ACW 09 MARCH 2026
important, especially shell products from hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata), which threatens the sea turtle populations living in Chinese waters. It is estimated that 1,236 individuals and 29,323 products of sea turtles were seized in southeastern China from 2012 to 2023. There are, of course, many legal shipments of these delicate creatures,
as well as many other species. Carriers such as FedEx Live Animal Desk and UPS provide regulated services for legal reptile transportation using climate-controlled methods. For individual travellers, small pets are generally permitted through security checkpoints but must be carried through in a proper container and declared, rather than hidden. Wildlife traffickers routinely use the gaps in the rapidly expanding air transport sector to smuggle endangered and exotic live animals, plants and parts. “India’s fast-growing air transport sector can pose a major problem,”
said Saket Badola, head of the India office of TRAFFIC, a global wildlife trade monitoring network. India is among the top 20 countries for the illegal wildlife trade, according to data analysed by TRAFFIC. Chennai and Mumbai airports act as key destinations and origin points for traffickers, according to a report published by USAID ROUTES. The number of airports in India increased to 127 in 2019, including
23 international airports which handled 66.54 million passengers in 2019–2020. There is a spike in trafficking instances at other fast- growing international airports in India, such as Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, which appointed a special wildlife cell in 2017 to handle the growing issue. There is a lack of capacity among enforcement agencies, airport and airline staff to deal with wildlife cases. According to ROUTES, the data for the dashboard comes from C4ADS’
Wildlife Seizure Database, which has information on 4,000 global seizures in the last five years, making it possible to trace trends and understand the mechanics. Since 2009, 111,312 individual tortoises or freshwater turtles (11,000 a year) were illegally traded across India, according to TRAFFIC. “Tortoises urinate when they are scared or jerked. To avoid dealing with the mess of 200–300 tortoises urinating during a three to six hour flight, the smugglers often wrap the inner part of the suitcase with diapers.” IATA has the United for Wildlife Taskforce, a
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