Countries around the world join forces to stop illegal wildlife trade

The world's largest police organisation say a massive operation to try to stop illegal selling and transport of wildlife has led to nearly 30,000 animals being saved.

Interpol - an organisation that helps police in lots of different countries work together to make the world a safer place - led the operation.

A total of 134 countries worked together to seize record numbers of protected animals and plants from people trying transport and sell the wildlife

Read on to find out more about the illegal wildlife trade.

The illegal wildlife trade is where animals or animal parts are sold in exchange for money.

The sale of endangered species, such as tigers and pangolin, is against the law in the UK and many other countries.

Interpol - who were in charge of the global crackdown - says the growth in live animal seizures is driven by the exotic pet trade, but the market in bushmeat - eating wild animals - is also on the rise.

They believe that the illegal wildlife trade is now the fourth largest type of international crime.

Despite laws, endangered species are still being sold online.

An investigation by the BBC found that tiger body parts, shark fins and pangolin scales were being sold on social media sites.

In the UK, there has been a rise in the amount of wildlife being seized from people trying to bring them into the country, with creatures like snakes, tarantulas and lovebirds found in cars.

Danny Hewitt, in charge of the UK's part of the global crackdown, says in many cases customers don't understand the harm they are doing.

"They may not have been illegal in other parts of the world, but they are illegal in the UK', he says.