Eel Smuggling: A Lucrative Wildlife Crime Threatening Extinction

Imagine tiny, finger-sized baby eels that are a super popular food, especially in places like Japan and China.

For a long time, people caught so many of these baby eels from European rivers that there aren't many left, and they are now in big trouble.

Because they are rare and people really want them, they have become very expensive.

This has led to a big, illegal business where criminals are smuggling them out of Europe, making billions of dollars.

It's hard to even tell where the eels come from because criminals sometimes send them through other countries to make them look legal.

Even though police are catching a lot of these smuggled eels, it's a difficult problem to solve.

Scientists and governments are trying to find ways to protect all kinds of eels because most of the eels eaten around the world are also endangered.