Gallery photo by user antshrike
The British newspaper The Guardian has published an in depth article targeting the illegal trade in protected lizard species in Europe. The article details some of the species it's undercover reporters encountered in their search, including Earless Monitor Lizards and Alligator Lizards, as well as others.

“All the specimens (of Earless Monitor Lizards) available outside Borneo have been illegally obtained and brought there,” Mark Auliya, IUCN’s monitor lizard specialist group

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) will hear proposals to ban the international trade in earless monitor and some arboreal alligator lizards at its next conference in South Africa in 2016.

To read more, check out The Guardian