Canada participates in global enforcement operation to disrupt wildlife and forest crimes
February 5, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario – Environment and Climate Change Canada
In the fall of 2024, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s enforcement officers participated in Operation Thunder, a trans-national cross-border operation that targets wildlife and forest crime. The intelligence-led operation was coordinated by INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization. Canada is one of 138 countries that took part in Operation Thunder 2024.
In Canada, the collaborative effort resulted in the identification of numerous violations and the seizure or detainment of over 800 items found to contain plants or animals regulated in commercial trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Enforcement officers with the assistance of their partners, including the Canada Border Services Agency, carried out targeted inspections at mail and cargo centres, and air, land and sea ports-of-entry across the county.
Some of these include:
- Various plant species of cacti and succulents
- Orchids and lotions containing orchid flowers
- Other illegally imported and protected plants like Venus flytraps and pitcher plants
- Clothing and accessories made from reptile skin
- Jewelry and products made from exotic wood
- Shipments containing protected plants like Costus and Cistanche
- Supplements made with seahorses (Hippocampus spp.)
- Boxes of sturgeon caviar
The results of this operation extend beyond Canada’s borders and demonstrate that collaborative enforcement work on a global scale disrupts illegal wildlife activity. For more information about the global impact of this operation: Operation Thunder 2024.
Quick facts
- According to INTERPOL, environmental and wildlife crime has become one of the world’s largest and most profitable crime sectors and continues to grow as it pushes many species to the brink of extinction.
- CITES is an international agreement that Canada signed in 1975 to regulate, or in some cases prohibit, trade in specific species of wild animals and plants, as well as their respective parts and derivatives. It protects more than 40,000 species of animals and plants worldwide.
- Operation Thunder 2024 is the eighth global operation in the yearly “Thunder” series, which started with Operation Thunderbird in 2017.
- Wildlife crime refers to the trade of wild plant and animal species in contravention of both national and international laws and regulation, while forest crime is defined by INTERPOL as criminal activity in the forestry sector, from harvest and transportation to processing and selling.
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