Wildlife conference boosts protection for sharks, turtles

An international conference on trade in endangered species ended Friday in Panama, with protections established for over 500 species.

At the conference, delegates enacted protections for shark species targeted in the fin trade and scores of turtles, lizards and frogs whose numbers are being decimated by the pet trade. The United Nations wildlife conference also rejected a proposal to reopen the ivory trade.

The proposal to ban the hippo trade was opposed by the European Union, some African countries and several conservation groups, who argue many countries have healthy hippo populations and that trade isn’t a factor in their decline.