Havocscope Black Market » wildlife smuggling

Animal and Wildlife Trafficking and Smuggling: $20 Billion

havocscope — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:05:32 +0000

The WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund) has estimated that animal and wildlife trafficking to be worth between $15 billion and $25 billion a year.

Source: Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, “Poaching for Bin Laden,” Guardian, May 5, 2007, (accessed: May 7, 2007).

Additional $20 Billion sources:

Alan Campana, “Animal Investigators: Solving Wildlife Crimes and Saving Endangered Species,” Wilson Center, May 20, 2009.

In addition, an editorial in Voice of America News, which provides the “views of the US Government,” states that wildlife trafficking is a $20 Billion market. Voice of America News, “Fighting Wildlife Trafficking,” Editorial, September 15, 2009.

Examples of the rate of wildlife product seizures

havocscope — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:48:17 +0000

During February 2010, Italian officials in Rome seized 30,000 wildlife products while searching through the luggage of more than 3,000 passengers.

Source: AFP, “World cops target traditional healers over smuggled wildlife,” Google News, March 5, 2010.

More tigers in farms than in the wild in China

havocscope — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:41:43 +0000

In 2010, there were only 50 tigers believed to be roaming in the wild versus 5,000 tigers raised in tiger farms in China.

Source: Patrick Winn, “Can Vladimir Putin save the world’s tigers?,” GlobalPost, February 24, 2010.

Ban on Tiger Bones costs China millions

havocscope — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:09:51 +0000

An official with China’s wildlife conservation agency stated to the Wall Street Journal that the global ban on tiger bones and parts created losses of $337 Million to the ancient medicine industry in the country.

Source: Shai Oster, “China’s Tiger Farms Spark a Standoff,” Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2010.

Tiger population dropped 70 percent over 12 years in SE Asia

havocscope — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:22:48 +0000

Between 1998 and 2010, the tiger population in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma/Myanmar dropped 70 percent, from 1,200 tigers in 1998 to 350 in 2010.

Source: AFP, “Mekong tiger population at ‘crisis point’: WWF,” Yahoo News, January 26, 2010.

Figures demonstrating the decline of global tiger population

havocscope — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:19:39 +0000

In the 1900s, there were an estimated 100,000 wild tigers roaming the world.

In the 1980s, there were an estimated 20,000 wild tigers roaming the world.

At the start of 2010, there were an estimated 3,200 wild tigers roaming the world.

Source: AFP, “Mekong tiger population at ‘crisis point’: WWF,” Yahoo News, January 26, 2010.

Number of bears on farms in Asia

havocscope — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:06:01 +0000

An estimated 20,000 bears are believed to be held on bear farms across Asia.

The bears are kept to harvest their bear bile, which is used for traditional medicines.

Source: Associated Press, “19 bears rescued from bile farm in Vietnam,” National Public Radio, January 22, 2010.

Amount of African Ivory seized in Southeast Asia in 2009

havocscope — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:26:43 +0000

10 tons of African Ivory was seized in Southeast Asia by Law Enforcement Authorities in 2009.

Source: Associated Press, “US-Thai operation charges 2 for ivory smuggling,” Washington Post, January 20, 2010.

Online ads selling endanger species

havocscope — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:07:02 +0000

Over a three-month period in 2008, researchers found 7,122 online advertisements selling endangered species or products derived from their slaughter.

70.5 percent of the advertisements originated from the United States.

Source: AFP, “Web aiding illegal wildlife trade,” Straits Times, January 17, 2010.

Number of illegally traded animals in Indonesia found in 2009

havocscope — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:02:19 +0000

Observers in Indonesia reported at the end of 2009 that 183 rare and protected animal species were found to be illegally traded across 70 bird markets throughout 58 cities within the year.

Source: Wahyoe Boediwardhana, “Endangered animal trading on the rise,” Jakarta Post, January 15, 2010.