Turtles & tortoises in the illegal wildlife trade
WildTrace has recorded 108 cases involving turtles & tortoises from public reports between 2024-01-15 and 2026-09-23, in 16 countries. 15 of them rest on an official or validated source.
CITES appendix I/II. Taxa covered: Geochelone elegans, Nilssonia gangetica, Lissemys punctata, Batagur spp.. Counts show where this trade is reported, not where it happens: reporting is uneven between countries and languages, and cases whose reports name no place are counted but cannot be mapped.
Where turtles & tortoises cases are reported
- India 21
- Brazil 13
- Indonesia 10
- Colombia 5
- Mexico 4
- Argentina 2
- Philippines 2
- United States 2
- Malaysia 1
- China 1
- France 1
- Madagascar 1
Recent cases
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-23 · single
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-22 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-22 · corroborated
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Chihuahua 2026-09-19 · single
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · 18 tortoises · Surat 2026-09-18 · single
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-18 · single
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · Ahmedabad 2026-09-17 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Odisha 2026-09-17 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Kuala Lumpur 2026-09-16 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Sorong 2026-09-16 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Malang 2026-09-16 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Purworejo 2026-09-16 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · China 2026-09-16 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Belimbing 2026-09-15 · corroborated
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · Makassar 2026-09-15 · corroborated
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · Raja Ampat 2026-09-14 · corroborated
- Rescue · Turtles & tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-14 · single
- Rescue · Turtles & tortoises · Guadalajara 2026-09-14 · single
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · France 2026-09-13 · single
- Arrest · Turtles & tortoises · 30 tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-12 · single
- Seizure · Turtles & tortoises · Rānchī 2026-09-12 · single
- Rescue · Turtles & tortoises · Bogotá 2026-09-11 · single
- Seizure · Leopard, Tiger, Turtles & tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-10 · single
- Arrest · Leopard, Turtles & tortoises · Sidhi 2026-09-10 · single
- Seizure · Leopard, Pangolin, Turtles & tortoises · location unknown 2026-09-09 · official
Where seized turtles & tortoises came from, and where it was seized
17 shipments of turtles & tortoises seized or confiscated were reported to CITES since 2015 (CITES Trade Database, source code I). Counts are shipment records, not quantities, and some countries report far more completely than others.
Taken from
- Sri Lanka 2
- Croatia 2
- India 1
- Hong Kong 1
- Mexico 1
Seized in
- United Kingdom 8
- United States 4
- Germany 2
- Serbia 2
- Canada 1
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