Sus Seahorse Smuggling Ring Uncovered! 🐠🚨
Millions of seahorses smuggled in global illegal trade, UBC researchers say. OMG, tea alert! 🍵 UBC researchers just dropped a whole exposé on the wild world of seahorse smuggling. We're talking millions of these lil guys snatched up and shipped across the globe, worth a cool $29 mil. They're getting
TL:DR
OMG, tea alert! 🍵 UBC researchers just dropped a whole exposé on the wild world of seahorse smuggling. We're talking millions of these lil guys snatched up and shipped across the globe, worth a cool $29 mil. They're getting nabbed in airports and seas, ending up in China and Hong Kong for old-school medicine. It's a whole mess, and it's sus af.
The Deets
Okay, fam, listen up. A new study just dropped, and it's lowkey wild. Turns out, there's a HUGE illegal trade in seahorses going down. Like, millions of 'em. Researchers at UBC (shoutout to the Canucks!) found that nearly 5 million seahorses were seized between 2010 and 2021. That's just what they *found*, so imagine how many are actually getting yeeted around the world, no cap!
These seahorses are getting caught in 62 different countries, worth like $29 million dollars! They're usually found stuffed in people's bags at the airport or hidden in cargo at sea. Sketchy, right?
So, where are these seahorses going? Mostly to China and Hong Kong, where they're dried and used in traditional medicine. But here's where it gets even more sus: new trade routes are popping up in Europe and Latin America. It's like the seahorse black market is going global, global. 🌍
The thing is, the seahorse trade *can* be legal, under this thing called CITES. But you need permits and gotta make sure you're not overfishing, which, let's be real, is probably not happening in the illegal trade. The researchers are saying we need stronger rules and ways to make the legal trade more appealing so people don't go rogue and start smuggling seahorses like they're designer bags or something. We gotta protect these lil guys!
Abbreviations Glossary
| Abbreviation | Full Form |
|---|---|
| Tea | Gossip, inside information |
| Sus | Suspicious |
| Lowkey | Secretly, subtly, somewhat |
| Yeeted | Thrown forcefully |
| No cap | Seriously, truly, no lie |
| Sketchy | Questionable or suspicious |