Black-bear parts, anteaters among wildlife seizures during Cdn enforcement blitz

Jul 10, 2019 | 12:02 PM

OTTAWA — Environment Canada says officers seized dozens of black-bear parts, diet pills made from endangered African plants and the bodies of two scaly anteaters as part of an international blitz targeting smugglers and poachers in June.

The department’s director-general for wildlife enforcement Sheldon Jordan says the anteaters, known as pangolins, are the most trafficked animal in the world but this is the first time officials have found them smuggled into Canada.

Jordan says the two carcasses were seized in Montreal coming in from Cameroon.

That investigation is ongoing and no charges have yet been laid over the pangolins.