2024 'Big Five' trafficked species - Pt I
A more in-depth focus on the current trends and trades in the illegal wildlife trade
Thanks for joining me and most importantly, I’d like to throw you a virtual bouquet to show my appreciation for being a paid subscriber. Truly humbling.
The Wild Crime Report is a free weekly offering with the express purpose of giving as many people an insight and understanding into how unfortunately frequent but also ‘wild’ the world of wildlife and marine trafficking can be. This however, is my first foray into putting together something a little more detailed for you the premium and paid subscriber. If you think it will be of interest to others I encourage you to share the link and persuade them to sign up too.
Those of you who know me are probably familiar with my sardonic take on the world we live in. And those who aren’t, but have been tuning in to the Wild Crime Reports, should by now be familiar with my take on this industry.
There are plenty of reasons to be angry and depressed about what our fellow human folk are doing to the animals and the world we live in. From a number of different metrics, the future can look bleak.
However, I feel that there is a need to try and stay objective, focused and somewhat clinical about the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of environmental crime across our crazy world. My hope is that in doing this, it might allow us to tackle the important ‘why’, so that those of us who are motivated to protect our planet can form a real strategy to reverse the decline of protected populations and disrupt the illegal trades that threaten our biodiversity.
And of course, as is often the case in a law enforcement environment, provide a little gallows humour along the journey to break the mood and keep one from going completely over the edge.
So in 2024, I’ve seen a number of stories breaking concerning familiar and the not so familiar illegal trades being perpetrated in key wildlife trafficking hubs. Periodically, I find it useful to stop and consolidate what is going on and try to determine current trends and focus on any key species. This sort of context is crucial when putting together an investigation plan where time is short, resources are few and sudden threats to species require an immediate response from law enforcement rather than long term passive advocacy.
So with that in mind, I’ve cherry picked a “Big Five Trafficked Species for 2024 Part 1” so far. It’s of course a play on the Big Five challenge favoured by hunters and I should stress, it is a cherry pick. It’s by no means an exhaustive list of the most trafficked species by volume, or by value. Instead it’s a selection of the illegal trades that are a considerable threat to the species in question, have an organised criminal element underpinning the activity and have a broad transnational imprint.
So let’s get into some information.
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