The Government of Canada is committed to protecting wildlife and plants at risk of overexploitation due to unsustainable or illegal trade. The reach of wildlife and forest crime is global in scope; therefore, strong cooperation between Canadian and international partners is essential to tackling wildlife trafficking and related crimes.
In October 2023, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers participated in Operation Thunder 2023, a month-long global operation involving 133 countries. Led by INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization, the operation aimed to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal and organized crime networks involved in trafficking wild plant and animal species.
Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers led multiple enforcement operations across Canada, with support from the Canada Border Services Agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and their provincial and territorial counterparts.
Enforcement officers and partners carried out targeted inspections at mail centres, airports, cargo centres, and ports of entry across Canada. Their efforts resulted in the identification of numerous violations, resulting in the seizure or detainment of numerous species (or their respective parts and derivatives), which are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Items include:
- Thirty boxes of crocodile-oil cream
- Two boxes and eight freezer bags containing shark fin
- Twenty wood carvings made from African mahogany
- Eight Green Tree Pythons
- Ten boxes of face cream containing Chinese Ground Orchid
- Three packages of tiger-powder balm
- Fifty cactus plants and 15 cactus pieces
- Seven boxes of pills containing Potato Orchid
- Fourteen Sandhill Cranes
- One alligator head
- Two live tortoises
- Two black bear bacula (penis bones)
