National Police officers and Environment Ministry officials last Friday caught two poachers transporting 62 birds in the central Pacific district of Montes de Oro, in Costa Rica's Puntarenas province.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that trophy-hunting tourists legally kill some 600 lions each year. Given that there are only about 30,000 lions left in Africa, this represents an annual loss of roughly 2 percent of the total lion population to legal hunting.
Thousands of parrots, monkeys, iguanas, toucans, turtles and other rain forest animals are kept as exotic pets in Costa Rica, a practice putting some species at risk, according to experts.
Officials of the National System of Conservation Areas last weekend conducted inspections in several protected areas in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, resulting in the arrest of six hunters inside Palo Verde National Park, the agency reported Thursday.
