Wildlife smuggling in New Zealand

[1] The WEG's activities led to 24 prosecutions, but the group was gradually disbanded between 2012 and 2014, and since that time there has been no dedicated task force policing wildlife smuggling in New Zealand.

[2] The WEG was supposed to have been replaced by a larger Environmental Crime Network, or by a digital hub, but neither eventuated.

[3] Smuggling attempts have continued, with a Marlborough green gecko stolen from a visitor-centre terrarium, and a taped-shut lunchbox discovered in 2017 in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens containing 58 native lizards, almost all dead.

[8][9] Herpetologist Cary Knox has recognised individual geckos from populations he studied advertised for sale online.

The gecko could not be returned to the wild due to biosecurity risks, but Knox was able to identify the original plant it had been poached from, and some of that tree was added to its new enclosure.