Awareness raising and capacity building are key factors to fight wildlife crimes: wrapping up LIFE SWiPE in Hungary

Representatives of law enforcement authorities, prosecution services, the judiciary, the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture (responsible for nature conservation in Hungary) and national park directorates met on 30-31 May 2023 in Budapest.  The two-day long workshop and closing event of the LIFE SWiPE project provided an opportunity for practitioners to discuss various aspects of the efforts […]

Tracking progress in combating wildlife crime in Europe

The SWiPE project, currently in its final stage, brought together representatives of the project partners from 11 countries for a meeting on June 15th and 16th. Held in Sofia, Bulgaria, the meeting was part of a LIFE monitoring mission conducted by the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency and ELMEN EEIG, with participants attending […]

Guerrilla against wildlife crimes in ‘Vacanze Romane’ film location

A splendid spring Sunday, a historic square full of tourists, a symbolic day – Earth Day: an ideal mix for an event that marked only the latest in a long series of communication activities of the SWiPE project in Italy. At the end of more than two years organizing press trips, producing hundreds of articles […]

New report to help tackle financial crime linked to wildlife trafficking in Europe

TRAFFIC and WWF are launching the ‘Wildlife Money Trails’ report to help law enforcement authorities and financial institutions uncover financial crimes related to wildlife and timber trafficking in the EU. The report features 16 case studies amounting to 18 million euros of illicit profits. Wildlife and timber trafficking often involves transnational organised crime networks and […]

LIFE SWiPE training for prosecutors about wildlife crimes in Kyev, Ukraine

Wildlife crime prosecution in times of armed conflict, a SWiPE workshop for Ukranian officials

Ukranian public prosecutors met in Kyev for a 3-day training to boost their knowledge and skills for the prosecution of wildlife and environmental crimes in times of armed conflict. Methods to counteract wildlife crimes, investigation of environmental offences, implementation of procedural management and support of public prosecution — these and many other topics were covered […]

A swiss wolf was illegaly shot by a hunter in Hungary after a record journey

A wolf named M237, who was two years old, left his pack in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, and traveled to Hungary through Italy and Austria, crossing the Alps and even swimming across the Danube. This GPS-collared wolf was tracked for 1,900 kilometers, making it the longest recorded journey by a wolf in Europe. During […]