Poachers killed almost 230 rhinoceroses in
South Africa between January and October of last year. Over the past decade,
they’ve killed countless tigers, too, for trading rings that deal in wildlife
skins and body parts. Today, fewer than 3,500 of these big cats remain in the
These are just two of many examples WCS
conservationist Elizabeth Bennett highlights in a recent paper. In the journal Oryx, Bennett addresses how organized
crime has become more sophisticated in smuggling wildlife and wildlife products
and adept at eluding authorities.
“We are failing to conserve some of the
world’s most beloved and charismatic species,” said Bennett. “We are rapidly
losing big, spectacular animals to an entirely new type of trade driven by
criminalized syndicates. It is deeply alarming, and the world is not yet taking
it seriously. When these criminal networks wipe out wildlife, conservation
loses, and local people lose the wildlife on which their livelihoods often
Previously secure wildlife populations are
now under threat as poachers and smugglers step up their game. Some new tactics
include using hidden compartments in shipping containers, rapidly changing
trading routes, and switching to e-commerce, which makes their operating
locations difficult to detect.
As advanced smuggling strategies hasten local
extinctions of wildlife species, better law enforcement is needed immediately.
Bennett suggests various strategies to counter organized wildlife crime
activities. These include increasing numbers of highly trained and
well-equipped enforcement staff at all points along the trade chain, using more
sniffer dogs, conducting DNA tests to search for wildlife products, and employing
smart-phone apps with species identification programs.
The bottom line, Bennett
says, is that wildlife crime must be taken more seriously by law enforcement
agencies. Along those lines, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in
Asia recently listed wildlife crime as one of their core focuses. The recent
establishment of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime
(comprised of CITES Secretariat,
INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Bank, and the
World Customs Organization) also offers hope that enforcement will get the edge
on smugglers worldwide.
“Unless we start taking wildlife crime seriously and allocating the commitment
of resources appropriate to tackling sophisticated, well-funded,
globally-linked criminal operations,” said Bennett, “populations of some of the
most beloved but economically prized, charismatic species will continue to wink
out across their range, and, appallingly, altogether.”