Ecuadorian authorities said they caught a Russian woman at the airport in Quito, the capital city, trying to smuggle 32 live marine iguanas, endemic to the Galápagos Islands. The iguanas — bound and stuffed in eight plastic boxes — were headed to Iceland. The dehydrated lizards were transferred to a conservation center in Pichincha for specialized care after being found in August, authorities said. About a month later, 24 of the surviving iguanas were released back on Galápagos — where they are believed to be stolen from. In May, authorities arrested three Thai nationals with 12 young marine iguanas destined for Asian markets. A week earlier, four separate cases of these lizards mysteriously appearing on sidewalks in Guayaquil on the mainland were reported. The marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), a threatened species, is the only lizard in the world that swims in the ocean and eats sea algae. About 11 subspecies of these colorful lizards are known to science. Under Ecuadorian laws, it’s illegal to remove any wildlife from the Galápagos. In 2025, the lizards were added to Appendix I of the CITES global wildlife trade treaty, which means they cannot be commercially traded internationally. Yet, they continue being smuggled as collectors in Europe and Asia want them as exotic pets. So far this year, authorities have confiscated nearly 50 marine iguanas. The global commerce is so lucrative that international wildlife traffickers are involved in smuggling them, experts say. Marine iguanas confiscated by authorities from a Russian woman in August 2026.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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