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Wildlife traffickers will exploit anything—even myths. A recent trend in West Africa has seen pangolins marketed as “electric pangolins,” allegedly inspired by claims of pangolins in the Mojave Desert emitting electrical currents from their scaled bodies. While the scientific community remains skeptical, traffickers have sought to capitalize on the phenomenon for profit, putting more pressure

Focused Conservation’s role in helping initiate, mentor, and fund specialized wildlife crime units across Africa has been well documented and the results continue to speak for themselves. These units are not only disrupting criminal networks and reducing the trafficking of protected wildlife, they are also elevating public awareness and strengthening inter-agency cooperation in ways that

LAGOS, NIGERIA — November 2025 A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, presided over by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, has convicted and sentenced two men, Lamin Magaji Muhammad and Ibrahim Haruna Muhammad, for conspiracy, unlawful possession, and attempted sale of a gorilla, the same great ape known as Bili, who was rescued in 2023 through a

Focused Conservation, working alongside the Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office (NSWO), recently played a key role in disrupting a major wildlife trafficking group in Abuja, Nigeria. Intelligence developed by the NSWO and Focused Conservation revealed that a group of traffickers was attempting to sell four large elephant ivory tusks. During deconfliction, it was determined

October 16, 2025 – Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria With support from Focused Conservation, officers from the Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office (NSWO) successfully executed a targeted enforcement action known as Operation Pink in Maiduguri, Borno State. The operation targeted an individual suspected of illegally selling two spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), a species protected under