Illegal African birds’ feathers trade

ACTION: 1) Shared with law enforcement; 2) Activated network in Africa to collect more information

TEXT (sanitized):

“I’m a (OMITTED), so I work with feathers for cerimonial and cultural purposes. Latley I have been seeing a growing number of people importing protected species from these taxidermists (ATTACHED DOCUMENT) and individuals from Africa. Hundreds of hornbills, turacos, eagles, hawks, secretary birds, etc… are being shipping to the United States and Canada, and being distributed amongst ebay, and the Native American community. Many of these sellers are using CITES permits, but I know most of these are comming from poached birds, and going through licensed taxidermists, using recycled CITES permits, and they are simply sending them via mail, and not registering them through the proper wildlife ports. The items which are turning up on ebay from American sellers who are getting them supplied from Africa, is just the tip of the iceberg in this feather trade. It’s scary to see exactly how many birds are turning up for sale yearly. I’m most concerned about those Crowned Eagles, you shouldn’t simply be able to send someone 100 dollars and get the skin in a few weeks via mail.”

ATTACHMENTS: “A small list of a few individuals selling these poached birds.” (OMITTED HERE)

NOTE:
This leak/message may have been sanitized for public release. Sensitive information has been removed in order to protect our field activities, collaborators and investigations.

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Picture: African Crowded Eagle (photo not part of the original leak/message).