Coral smuggler to be sentenced

The Christian Science Monitor reports on German businessman who plead guilty in a federal court in Portland, Oregon this week for smuggling 40 tons of coral from the Philippines.

Gunther Wenzek, [a German businessman from Essen], runs a company called CoraPet, which sells sand, pebbles, sponges, and shells for aquariums, terrariums, and ponds.

According to documents filed in the case, Mr. Wenzek illegally smuggled two 20-foot shipping containers of coral into the US [from the Philippines to Miami and Portland in 2008]. The containers were falsely labeled as holding “rock” or “gravel.”

Read the full story: German businessman smuggled coral into US from Philippines

Photo by Scott Keeler / Newscom

Six global conservation efforts

The Christian Science Monitor reports on six conservation efforts around the world and most in popular travel spots:

Costa Rica: has protected 1/4 of its land.

The Philippines: home-grown conservation is stemming rampant deforestation and illegal poaching.

Vancouver Island: reintroduction of sea otters has created new problems of sea urchin and abalone decline.

Florida Everglades: might never recover due to destructive non-native species.

Congo, Rwanda, Uganda: Mountain gorillas now with a 14 percent population increase live in the shared borders of all three countries and have survived civil war and poaching.

Madagascar: Deforestation and poverty is destroying habitats of native species such as the lemur (picture above) but carbon offset trading could save the forests that are now being bought by companies such as Dell and turned over to international conservation organizations.

Read the full story: Where they rebuild nature