Commentary By: Daniel Stiles
Mongabay.org Special Reporting Assignment Fellow 

In what appears to be corruption in high places, the international body charged with protecting endangered species has turned a blind eye to massive illegal trade of endangered Great Apes. This was my distinct impression on reading the Great Apes report prepared by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat for the 65th CITES Standing Committee meeting, which will take place in Geneva in early July this year. 

CITES is charged with regulating trade of live wild animals and plants, or their derivative products, in order to protect them from overexploitation. Too much trade could threaten certain species with extinction, which occurred recently with the West African black rhino, shot into oblivion for illegal trade in its horn. 

Read the full article at Mongabay.org –  http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0709-sri-stiles-cites-commentary.html