The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "reptile" ...
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Animal Smugglers
MSNBC, in a joined effort with BBC, details the work of Operation Chameleon designed to catch animal traffickers and smugglers internationally. The report looks at the illegal network of Anson Wong from Malaysia, leader of the biggest ever known animal dealing and smuggling operation. Wong is currently awaiting sentencing in a Californian prison. The production also tells the story of Paul Sullivan who "has broken laws to protect reptiles from being poached and traded to extinction." The most stunning warning is that the multi-billion-dollar illegal trade of precious reptiles around the world has brought more than 71 species on the verge of extinction, and that "we are into the greatest extinction of historical times."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; ploughshare tortoise; Chinese alligators; Madagascar; environment; Komodo dragons; wildlife; crime; customs; hunting; business; trade
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Germs on the Loose: Bioweapons Tests Tainted Sites Around the Globe
"Every major World War II combatant had a biological weapons program," Choffnes writes, "and many of these countries' field test sites remain reservoirs of disease. Although the programs may have ended, the pathogens they released persist in the test sites' animal, bird, reptile, and insect populations. Unless extreme measures are taken to secure testing grounds, pathogens once released into the environment will adapt to new hosts and spread diseases to new areas...As it becomes harder to obtain pathogenic materials from private and public sources, terrorists or nations seeking to acquire a biological weapons capability might be tempted to obtain pathogen seed stocks from wildlife collections or other environmental sources of pathogenic materials." Story discusses in particular biological weapons testing sites in the U.S., Britain, and the former Soviet Union.
Tags: biological weapons; testing sites; field test; anthrax; bioweapons; disease; Vozrozhdeniye; U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program; Gruinard; U.S. Biological Defense Research Program; Chemical Warfare Service; Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention