notes from the field
WINTER 2015/2016
© FRANS LANTING / LANTING.COM
TACKLING
THE
ILLEGAL
WILDLIFE
TRADE
WILDLIFE TRADE
W
hen Singapore customs authorities opened bags
of tea leaves passing through their port en route
to Vietnam last May, they made a startling
discovery. Hidden among the tea were 1,783 ivory
tusks, respresenting hundreds of slain Kenyan elephants. There were also four pieces of rhino horn
and 22 teeth from African big cats, including
cheetahs and leopards. It was the largest ivory
seizure in Singapore in more than a decade but
represented just a tiny fraction of the global
illegal wildlife trade.
The ivory trade driving the elephant poaching crisis has led to the deaths of at least
100,000 elephants killed in just three years
for their tusks. To combat the trade’s devastating effects, Save the Elephants and
Wildlife Conservation Network created the
Elephant Crisis Fund, which has deployed
more than $5 million to stop the killing
of elephants, stop the trafficking, and
stop the demand for ivory. The ECF
has funded partners that put rangers
on the ground, identify and disrupt
trafficking routes, and use celebrities
in Public Service Announcements
asking people to not buy ivory.
The trade doesn’t just affect wellknown species like elephants. It
also impacts little-known species
like pangolins and saiga antelopes
(see page 7). The illegal wildlife
trade is worth $10 billion to $20
billion every year and is often
run by the same professional
crime syndicates that traffic
drugs and firearms. Unlike
Stop the killing, stop the trafficking,
and stop the demand
© EDWARD PARKER WWF-CANON
NUNO NORONHA
those illegal trades, trafficking
wildlife products is often lowrisk, with fewer penalties and less
stringent enforcement.
Conservationists
Fight Back
Worldwide, the conservation
community has rallied to take
action — including some of WCN’s
partners and close associates.
At this year’s Wildlife Conservation Expo, a panel composed
of Jeffrey Flocken (International
Fund for Animal Welfare), Dr.
Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Save the
Elephants), Dr. Simon Morgan
(Wildlife ACT), Elena Bykova
(Saiga Conservation Alliance) and
Thai van Nguyen (Save Vietnam’s Wildlife) joined together
© INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE (IFAW)
to discuss the challenges of the
illegal trade and what can be done
to stop it. Dr. Claudio Sillero of
the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation
Program and Oxford University
served as moderator. Conservationists are fighting back by
addressing three angles: killing,
trafficking, and demand for wildlife products. They are working
with local people to make wildlife
worth more alive than dead.
Stopping the trade begins on the
ground where wild animals live.
Alternative incomes for potential
poachers are vital. As Dr. Morgan
noted, “Community development
and trying to get people involved
in innovative ways of benefiting
from wildlife through tourism or
other ventures is essential.” Support for rangers who fight back
against poachers is vital.
WILDLIFE ACT
Stemming the flow of illegal products through trafficking networks
and sales of products is also
important. IFAW has investigated
thousands of internet postings for
wildlife products. Internet auction
company eBay hosted around
1,000 open posts per week for
wildlife products but agreed to a
global wildlife ban on all company
sites. The number of wildlife products available has plummeted to
only about ten per month. IFAW is
now working with other sites like
Etsy, China’s Alibaba, and online
live auction sites on similar bans.
Addressing demand also sits at
the heart of stopping the wildlife
trade. Asia is the primary destination for wildlife products, but
the United States is also a major
market, and products also end up
in Russia, the Middle East, and
Europe. Rising prices for wildlife
We can change
how people think
and how they behave,
and it can be fast.
— Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton
Left: Burning confiscated
elephant tusks and rhino horns
to prevent them from entering
the illegal market. Center: U.S.
officials have seized hundreds
of illegal ivory statuettes. Right:
Shaving off rhinos’ horns is a way
to protect their lives by making
them worthless to poachers.
Less Known Victims
SAIGA
work, and demand reduction.
The population had begun to
rebound in recent years but faced
a devastating disease outbreak in
2015, making anti-poaching work
to protect the remaining saiga
more crucial than ever.
PANGOLIN
The small, scaly pangolin is the
most trafficked animal in the
world. The scales of this littleknown species are coveted for traditional medicine, and its
meat is considered a delicacy. Thai van Nguyen founded
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife to save his country’s pangolins and
other wildlife, and he has helped make pangolin conserva-
© SAVE VIETNAM’S WILDLIFE
One of the most promising signs
that this is true came when China
announced earlier this year that
it would phase out its domestic ivory trade. The country
reiterated this position in
September when President
Barack Obama and Chinese
President Xi Jinping promised to work together to
enact nearly complete
bans on the import and
export of ivory in their
countries. While details
of the bans are being
developed, the commitment of China and
the United States to
end the ivory trade
is phenomenal news
for elephants and
provides hope for
the many species
around the world
that are threatened by the
illegal wildlife
trade.
SAIGA CONSERVATION ALLIANCE
Hope for the Future
SAIGA CONSERVATION ALLIANCE
The translucent amber horns of the saiga
antelope are coveted for their perceived
medicinal benefits. Although saiga were
once numerous on the semi-arid steppes of Central Asia,
poaching led to a 95 percent decline of the population in fifteen years. “There are huge benefits for illegal traders, and
poaching is difficult to stop because it’s very big money,”
says Elena Bykova of Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA).
Elena and the SCA team are working across country borders
to protect saiga through anti-poaching teams, community
© SAVE VIETNAM’S WILDLIFE
items have fueled the trade. Rhino horn
is now worth more per ounce than any
other product on the planet, including
gold, platinum, and even cocaine.
However, as Dr. Douglas-Hamilton
noted, “We can change how people
think and how they behave, and it
can be fast.”
tion a top priority for Vietnam’s
government. This year, with
the urging of van Nguyen, the
Vietnamese Ministry of Health
officially removed pangolin scales
from the list of medicines covered
by health insurance in the country. Pangolin scales are also no
longer recommended to be used
in any of Vietnam’s hospitals.
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