{"id":2646752,"date":"2025-09-19T07:18:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T07:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2646752\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T07:18:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T07:18:59","slug":"toucans-tortoises-saved-in-major-brazil-trafficking-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/2646752\/","title":{"rendered":"Toucans, tortoises saved in major Brazil trafficking bust"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AFP047911_00.pre.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t      Brazilian police on Tuesday arrested 45 people and rescued hundreds of exotic animals in the biggest ever operation against wildlife traffickers in the world&#8217;s most biodiverse nation.<br \/>  Brightly colored birds like toucans and macaws, boxes of tortoises, monkeys and a python were among 700 rescued animals taken to a central facility to receive expert care.<br \/>  Forensic police carried the rescued animals in cages to be seen by veterinarians, covering some with blankets before their checkups.<br \/>  Over a thousand officers took part in the bust across Rio de Janeiro and other states, which was the largest operation in Brazil&#8217;s history to combat the trafficking of wild animals, weapons, and ammunition, a police statement said.<br \/>  The crackdown followed a year-long investigation into the country&#8217;s most prolific wildlife trafficking ring.<br \/>  The highly structured gang has operated for decades, with some responsible for the mass hunting of wild animals while others transported them to urban centers for sale.<br \/>      One group specialized in primates, hunting, drugging and selling monkeys to other gang members.<br \/>  Animal trafficking is not just cruel ? it&#8217;s a death sentence. Many animals die before even reaching the market, which shows the sheer brutality of this trade, Bernardo Rossi, State Secretary of Environment and Sustainability, said in a statement.<br \/>  The gang also traded weapons and ammunition, which were used to commit various other crimes, according to police official Felipe Curi.<br \/>  Investigators identified some of the buyers of these wild animals, who fuel the entire criminal chain, said the police statement, without giving further details.<br \/>  Wildlife trafficking is a major challenge in Brazil, with an estimated 38 million animals taken from the wild every year, according to the Brazilian NGO RENCTAS (National Network to Combat Wildlife Trafficking).<br \/>  Ninety percent of these animals die before reaching the final consumer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brazilian police on Tuesday arrested 45 people and rescued hundreds of exotic animals in the biggest ever oper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2646753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[785160],"tags":[30353,98706,528524,32077,939,1670,98751,73191,11802,200,125020,1656,78392,6798,17757,812,4817,3687,4313,31168,1712,345531,6330,784979,2722,11034,784980,1668,3843,13633,11786,3577,16899,21135,302851,482,14115,577,1669],"class_list":{"0":"post-2646752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brazil","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-jiji","10":"tag-topics","11":"tag-topix","12":"tag-939","13":"tag-1670","14":"tag-98751","15":"tag-73191","16":"tag-11802","17":"tag-200","18":"tag-125020","19":"tag-1656","20":"tag-78392","21":"tag-6798","22":"tag-17757","23":"tag-812","24":"tag-4817","25":"tag-3687","26":"tag-4313","27":"tag-31168","28":"tag-1712","29":"tag-345531","30":"tag-6330","31":"tag-784979","32":"tag-2722","33":"tag-11034","34":"tag-784980","35":"tag-1668","36":"tag-3843","37":"tag-13633","38":"tag-11786","39":"tag-3577","40":"tag-16899","41":"tag-21135","42":"tag-302851","43":"tag-482","44":"tag-14115","45":"tag-577","46":"tag-1669"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/wakoka.com\/@news\/115229751038319285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2646752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2646753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2646752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2646752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2646752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}