Between 26 million and 73 million shark fins are sold every year in Hong Kong
Source: Mark Henderson, “Taste for fins puts shark on danger list,” Times (UK), February 18, 2008.
50 percent of wildlife crime offenders have previous convictions
In the United Kingdom, the Guardian Newspaper has reported that 50 percent of those prosecuted for wildlife crimes have previous convictions for serious offenses such as drugs and guns.
Source: Andrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, “Poaching for Bin Laden,” Guardian, May 5, 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,2073168,00.html (accessed: May 7, 2007).
In 2006, 163,000 illegal wildlife items were seized by UK customs
Source: BBC News, “Warning over wildlife souvenirs,” BBC News, August 16, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6948921.stm (accessed: August 16, 2007).
Key sources of elephant ivory trade
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria are considered to be key sources of the elephant ivory trade.
Source: AP, “Report: Illegal Ivory Imports on Rise,” ABC News, May 10, 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3161698 (accessed: May 11, 2007).
3 ivory seizures a day worldwide
According to a report by TRAFFIC, “Worldwide, the number of ivory seizures averages 92 cases a month - or three per day.”
Source: WWF, “Organized crime fuels illegal ivory surege in Africa,” Press Release, May 10, 2007, http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=102180 (accessed: May 11, 2007).
Hammerhead shark population fell by 98 percent due to poaching
Between 1970 and 2005, the number of hammerhead sharks in the Atlantic Ocean fell by 98 percent due to fisherman killing the shark for its fins.
Source: Mark Henderson, “Taste for fins puts shark on danger list,” Times (UK), February 18, 2008.
Due to poaching, there are an estimated 3,500 tigers left in Asia
This figure is down from 5,000 in 1997.
Source: Ashok Sharma, Associated Press, “India to spend $13.5M to protect tigers,” Yahoo News, March 1, 2008.
