Actions & Awareness Needed to Stop Wildlife Trafficking

Wildlife trafficking involves the illegal gathering, transportation, and distribution of animals and their derivatives. This can be done either internationally or domestically. The U.S. State Department lists wildlife trafficking as the third most valuable illicit commerce in the world. The illegal nature of such activities makes determining the amount of money involved incredibly difficult. Wildlife trafficking is a major illegal trade along with narcotics, human trafficking, and counterfeit products.

Products demanded by the trade include exotic pets, food, traditional medicine, clothing, and jewelry made from animals’ tusks, fins, skins, shells, horns, and internal organs. Smuggled wildlife is an increasing global demand. It is estimated that the US, China, and the European Union are the places with the highest demand. At the core of the illegal wildlife trafficking is a strong and rapidly expanding demand for a variety of products around the world: bushmeat, trinkets and accessories such as chess sets, furs for uses ranging from coats to traditional costumes and trophies.

All of these uses of illegally obtained wildlife are driven by a desire to be seen as more affluent, adventurous, or successful than others. In many parts of Africa, the main demand for illegal wildlife comes from the consumption of bushmeat. Wild animals are preferred as a source of protein and primates are considered a delicious food. It is believed that up to 40,000 monkeys are killed and eventually consumed each year in Africa alone via smuggling. Many primates are killed by bushmeat hunters and supplied to markets all over Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Much of demand for rhinoceros horns, tiger bones and other animal products arises out of the practice of traditional Chinese medicine, which uses these ingredients to treat fevers, gout, and other illnesses, maintain good health and longevity and enhance sexual potency. But many of the traditional Chinese medicines fail to cure anything, although the demand for them continues to expand greatly and to the detriment of wildlife.

The most trafficked animal in the world is the pangolin. Pangolins are the only scaly mammal on earth. In the last decade, more than one million pangolins were poached and killed for their scales. Although there are no proven medical values, their scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine and considered a privilege for the wealthy in China and Vietnam. Exotic pets are captured from their endemic environments, smuggled across national and international borders and sold to family homes or roadside circuses.

Reptiles, such as bearded dragons and geckos, and birds, such as scarlet macaws and certain falcons, make up the largest share of animals captured and sold. Exotic mammals including three-toed sloths, sugar gliders, prairie dogs, hedgehogs, monkeys and other animals are kept as pets. Birds are the most common contraband. Two million to five million wild birds, from hummingbirds to parrots and harpy eagles are traded illegally worldwide every year.

The volume of international trade in wildlife commodities is immense and continues to rise. According to an analysis to the 2012 Harmonized System customs statistics, global import of wildlife products amounted to US$187 billion, of which fisheries commodities accounted for $113 billion; plants and forestries for $71 billion; non-fishery animal for $3 billion. There is an increasing call for a reform of the Harmonized System to strengthen monitoring and enforcement of global wildlife trade.

Members of terrorist organizations and criminal organizations illicitly traffic in hundreds of millions of plants and animals to fund the purchase of weapons, finance civil conflicts, and launder money from illicit sources. These often transnational efforts require a funding and a network of poachers, processors, smugglers, sellers, and buyers. In addition, trafficking can reap significant profits for those leading such efforts. For example, a single Ploughshare tortoise from Madagascar those are only 400 estimated left in the wild can fetch US $24,000.

Elephant ivory, a commonly trafficked contraband can fetch high prices in destination countries. Prices depend greatly on the source country and the product. Ivory prices and demand become higher, making it a growing and very lucrative market. China is the largest importer of illegal ivory and USA is second. According to reports from wildlife organization Save the Elephants, the price for raw ivory in China was $2,100 per kilogram. Between 2010 and 2012, up to 33,000 elephants were poached and killed on average each year.

Wildlife smuggling directly affects the biodiversity of different ecosystems. Certain animals are in higher demand by smugglers, leading to a visible decline of these species in their native habitats. Wildlife smuggling may also cause the introduction of invasive and harmful species into an ecosystem, which can endanger indigenous wildlife by putting a strain on the environments resources through interspecific competition between species.

Throughout the last hundred years, around twenty animals are extinct due to poaching and illegal smuggling. Such as the west African black Rhinoceros, Pyrenean Ibex, Passenger Pigeon, Ploughshare Tortoise, Red-Fronted Macaw. Many species are not protected until they are endangered. This delay in protection results in significant losses of biodiversity in the ecosystem. As the international community increases efforts in monitoring and controlling environmental damage, the United Nations aims to create more protected habitats and ecosystems through initiatives.

Wildlife trafficking is a rising international crisis that is not only taking away animal rights but also threatening the world on global environmental, social, and economic levels. It’s contributing to an illegal economy and having detrimental effects on humans’ well-being. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) works along with international treaties like Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), aiming to combat transnational crimes and make joint efforts for wildlife protection.

The penalties and fines as a result of breaking these laws are small. These laws are weakened by these limited penalties and extensive exceptions. Exceptions include “scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species. The Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (CAWT) was established in 2005 as a voluntary coalition of governments and organizations that aims to end the illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife products. Their means of action include raising public awareness to curb demand, strengthening international cross-border law enforcement to limit supply, and endeavoring to mobilize political support.

The Freeland Foundation and TRAFFIC Southeast Asia worked with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to establish the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) in 2005. ASEAN-WEN oversees cross-border cooperation and aims to strengthen the collective law enforcement capacity of the ASEAN member countries. It is the largest regional wildlife law enforcement collaboration in the world. The SAWEN countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.