- A crackdown on the illegal trade in Malagasy tortoises has led to a series of recent arrests.
- Following the arrest of a Tanzanian national with 800 tortoises in December 2024, officials said a major investigation had uncovered a major international trafficking network that led to the arrests of more than 20 people in Madagascar and Tanzania.
- Wildlife trade monitoring watchdog TRAFFIC says more than 30,000 trafficked radiated tortoises were seized between 2000 and 2021; the critically endangered Malagasy tortoises are in demand internationally.
ANTANANARIVO — Authorities in Madagascar have arrested 19 people on suspicion of trafficking tortoises, part of intensifying efforts in the country to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade.
The arrests during the week of Jan. 20 stemmed from the December 2024 apprehension of a Tanzanian national found to be transporting 800 tortoises in the northwestern coastal town of Mahajanga. This arrest prompted a major investigation in regions all around the country, including the capital, Antananarivo.
Thirteen men, including the Tanzanian, Joseph Yonas Linonoka, and six women are being held in Antananarivo, according to a Jan. 25 Facebook post from the Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD). “Thanks to international cooperation, four Chinese smuggling accomplices have also been arrested in Tanzania,” the post read.
The foiled trafficking operation had targeted more than 2,700 tortoises native to Madagascar, MEDD officials said. According to information provided by the ministry, the network links poachers who capture the tortoises from the wild habitat, with others who take care of temporary storage and local transport of the animals. Other intermediaries are then responsible for arranging for their export.
On Jan. 14, three Chinese citizens bound for Shanghai via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were arrested at Antananarivo airport with 105 baby radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) in their suitcases. That same day, ministry officials seized 134 tortoises from three other foreign nationals at the airport in a separate case. Three days earlier, a suspicious convoy was intercepted in Betioky in southern Madagascar, which a search revealed was carrying both tortoises and cannabis. And on Jan. 22, police arrested a prison officer, a nurse and two middlemen in possession of 250 tortoises in the eastern suburbs of Antananarivo.
Recent arrests suggest that some politicians also seem to have a stake in the apparently lucrative sector. On Dec. 24, a member of parliament, Roméo Christophe Ramanatanana, was arrested and charged with illegally transporting 112 tortoises to Antananarivo.
Demand for native species
Traffickers specifically target two tortoise species native to southern Madagascar: radiated tortoises and spider tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides). Both are listed as critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List. More than 2,400 of these tortoises were seized in law enforcement actions during the past year, including 1,200 in a single massive bust in Thailand in June.
Worldwide, 121 seizures of trafficked wildlife between 2000 and 2021 involved Madagascar, according to information from TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring group, including at least 30,875 radiated tortoises.
Organizations such as the Voahary Gasy Alliance (AVG), a coalition of environmental NGOs in Madagascar, have welcomed the government’s renewed efforts to curb this illegal wildlife trafficking.
At a press conference on Jan. 22, the group called for the strengthening of environmental governance and strict application of wildlife law.
Since 2022, the United States Agency for International Development has provided $10 million for the Countering Corruption and Wildlife Trafficking program implemented by a consortium including TRAFFIC, AVG and Transparency International, and coordinated by WWF Madagascar. The work carried out so far includes the introduction of an alert system that makes it easier for anyone to report possible offenses. The abrupt shutdown of USAID in January 2025 by the new U.S. administration threatens the future of this program.
Banner image: A radiated tortoise at the Antsokay Arboretum, Toliara, Madagascar. Image by Bernard Dupont via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Tortoise protection culture prompts efforts to curb trafficking in Madagascar
This story was first published here in French on Jan. 30, 2025.
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