Wildlife Crime

This book examines trade and trafficking in endangered animal species and how the trade increasingly puts large numbers of nonhuman species at risk. Focusing on illegal trafficking, the book also discusses the harmful aspects of the trade and trafficking which is taking place in concordance with laws and regulations. Drawing on the findings of empirical research from Norway and Colombia, the study discusses how this global, transnational trend is addressed, and features of the trade and the ways in which it is controlled in the two case study locations. It also explores the motives driving the trade, and the consequences in terms of animal abuse and environmental harm. The book discusses whether internationally agreed measures, such as international conventions, actually help prevent the trade. Possible ways to address the harms of wildlife trade are considered, including a total ban. The work draws on a green criminology and eco feminist theoretical framework to provide a broad perspective on concepts such as harm, animal rights, species justice and speciesism.

This book provides a comprehensive, global exploration of the scale, scope, threats, and drivers of wildlife trafficking from a criminological perspective. Building on the first edition, it takes into account the significant changes in the international context surrounding these issues since 2013. It provides new examples, updated statistics, and discusses the potential changes arising as a result of COVID-19 and the IPBES 2019 report. It also discusses the shift in trafficking ‘hotspots’ and the recent projects that have challenged responses to wildlife trafficking. It undertakes a distinctive exploration of who the victims and offenders of wildlife trafficking are as well as analysing the stakeholders who are involved in collaborative efforts to end this devastating green crime. It unpacks the security implications of wildlife trade and trafficking and possible responses and ways to combat it. It provides useful and timely information for social and environmental/life scientists, law enforcement, NGOs, and policy makers.

Emphasizes the disturbing consequences poaching and trafficking pose globally in terms of both biodiversity and public health

This is the first book that faces up to the realities of the often unsuccessful attempts by the justice system in its efforts to stop these crimes. Unflinching accounts of the shocking levels of killing and the cruel and callous nature of the killers are related. However black comedy and lighter moments prevent this being just another catalogue of man's inhumanity to nature with personal accounts of the thrill and joy of watching some of our most beautiful birds and animals in their equally beautiful landscapes. The author examines the motives of both criminals and their pursuers in an attempt to show the truth of what has become a highly-charged and politicised topic. He reveals the truth of what is happening in some corners of our countryside, where the public may be discouraged to tread and hopes to inform a more reasoned debate on the topic. This timely and inevitably controversial book lifts the lid on the pressures faced by some of our most iconic wildlife species which are being shot, trapped and poisoned.

In this book the author examines the illegal wildlife trade from multiple perspectives: the historical context, the impact on the environment, the scope of the problem internationally, the sociocultural demand for illegal products, the legal efforts to combat it, and several case studies from inside the trade. The illegal wildlife trade has become a global criminal enterprise, following in the footsteps of drugs and weapons. Beyond the environmental impact, financial profits from the illegal wildlife trade often fund organized crime groups and violent gangs that threaten public safety and security in myriad ways. This innovative volume covers several key questions surrounding the wildlife trade: why is there a demand for illegal wildlife products, which actors are involved in the trade, how is the business organized, and what are the harmful consequences. The author performed ethnographic fieldwork in three key markets: Russia, Morocco, and China, and has constructed a detailed picture of how the wildlife trade operates in these areas. Conversations with informants directly involved in the illegal business ensure unique insights into this lively black market. In the course of his journey the author follows the route of the illegal wildlife trade from poor poaching areas to rich business districts where corrupt officials, legally registered companies, wildlife farms and sophisticated criminal organizations all have a share. A fascinating look inside the world of poachers, smugglers and traders.

Illegal trade in wildlife is now recognized as one of the most significant criminal activities in the world, bringing billions of dollars in illicit profits to organized crime groups and networks, which are acknowledged to control much of this trafficking. Until 2011, John M. Sellar was the most senior law enforcement official operating transnationally to combat these activities, drawing upon his previous 24 years of experience in the Scottish Police Force investigating serious crime. Following his secondment as Chief of Enforcement to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), he was labelled by the media as 'The UN's Lone Ranger'. His duties took him to more than 60 countries, involving 2 million kilometres of travel over the course of 14 years. His book describes why organized crime has turned to robbing nations, especially in the developing world, of their animals and plants and how this is bringing several species to the brink of extinction. It illustrates, in words and images, how criminal networks recruit, equip and direct poachers and wildlife contraband couriers; arrange the smuggling of species and products, often involving transportation across many borders and several continents; use bribery and violence against law enforcement personnel; and the nature of the markets in which illegal-origin wildlife is being consumed. Separate chapters examine particular wildlife crime-types, such as the poaching of elephants and rhinos, the hugely profitable illicit trade in caviar, and the demand for the skins and bones of tigers which has almost eradicated them. But Sellar, once described as 'the world's leading authority on wildlife crime', also reflects frankly, and sometimes critically, on his service as a UN official, the way in which national law enforcement bodies are reacting to these crimes and the support provided by international agencies. He identifies what he believes are significant gaps in the current responses and suggests ways in which they might be plugged. He recounts several of his incredible experiences; visiting anti-poaching officers on the roof of the world, the Tibetan Plateau, and bizarre late-night hospitality from KGB officers. The UN's Lone Ranger tells of law enforcement and diplomacy. It is also the first book, written from an international perspective, about a subject that warrants much greater attention, if the world's most threatened species are to be safeguarded for future generations.

The report presents the latest assessment of global trends in wildlife crime. It includes discussions on illicit rosewood, ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales, live reptiles, tigers and other big cats, and European eel. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has highlighted that wildlife crime is a threat not only to the environment and biodiversity, but also to human health, economic development and security. Zoonotic diseases - those caused by pathogens that spread from animals to humans - represent up to 75% of all emerging infectious diseases. Trafficked wild species and the resulting products offered for human consumption, by definition, escape any hygiene or sanitary control, and therefore pose even greater risks of infection.

Wildlife legislation has become so complex that prosecutions fail and even specialist enforcement professionals struggle to implement it effectively. Hundreds of birds of prey have been deliberately poisoned with substances such as carbofuran that have no legal use and the Government could easily make possession an offence. The lack of sentencing guidelines on wildlife offences means that some offenders are being neither punished nor deterred in the courts. The CPS is also failing to train its prosecutors to handle complex wildlife cases. Furthermore, the inflexible implementation in UK law of international agreements covering the trafficking of endangered species squanders limited resources. The Government has maintained funding for specialist wildlife crime investigation and enforcement, but this is provided on an ad hoc basis, reducing operational effectiveness. Funding provided to monitor wildlife crime on the internet was too short-term to attract a suitably qualified individual to fill the post. In 2004, the Committee called for a new database to record all wildlife crime but this has still not been introduced. Internationally, this report also examines how the rhino, tiger and elephant are being driven to extinction by growing demand for illegal wildlife products in south-east Asia and China. The Government needs to exert robust diplomatic pressure in favour of the development and enforcement of wildlife law at the next CITES meeting in March 2013. In particular, the Government should focus attention on the damaging effect of 'one-off' sales of impounded ivory, which has been found to actually fuel demand for ivory products, and seek an unequivocal international ban on all forms of ivory trade.