The smuggling of an animal as precious as a Marine Iguana is about the stupidest thing possible, but hey, some people will try anything for a buck -- even taking animals that live solely on the food in their habitat.

From Wildlife Extra News:

An attempt to illegally export marine iguanas, an emblematic species of the Galapagos, has been stopped by the Ecuadorian Environmental Police's dog unit.
The police were conducting routine inspections of cargo and luggage when Willy, one of the police dogs, found a cardboard box containing two iguanas. Despite being kept in poor conditions, fortunately both are still alive. However, the body of a baby sea turtle was also found in the box.
After the police inspection, the marine iguanas were delivered to the authorities of the Galapagos National Park.

The box was abandoned and the iguanas at least will hopefully return to the wild. The dogs are trained to sniff out wildlife and recently found a house with shark fins, also protected, on Santa Cruz Island.

In late October a group in Utah sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife for failure to protect their native Gila Monsters. From Desert News.com:

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado says stresses on the Utah population, which occur only in Washington County, include declines in habitat because of increasing urbanization, illicit trade and poaching, as well persecution by humans.
WildEarth Guardians filed a petition with the agency, seeking protections for Utah Gila monsters in January, with a 90-day finding that was due in April.
With no such finding, the group argued that the agency acted contrary to law and "unreasonably" delayed compliance with sections of the Endangered Species Act.

It is felt that this northernmost range of the Gila and the survival of the group are critical for the species overall population.