Forestry officials have stepped up surveillance in the remote highland region of Lunana after issuing 549 permits for cordyceps collection on April 30, amid rising concerns about illegal trespassing.

Wildlife poaching, including tarantula trafficking, started booming in the 1970s, around the time the public developed an interest in keeping tarantulas as pets. By the 1990s, it had become one of the ...

Cordyceps, a rare fungus, has transformed lives in Lunana since its harvest was legalised in 2004 under the Royal Command of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. For the highland communities, it ...