The phrase
"wildlife trafficking" refers to the illegal trade of animals, plants, and their parts or products. It involves activities such as capturing, poaching, smuggling, and selling of wildlife for various purposes, including personal collections, traditional medicine, and exotic pets. It is harmful because it threatens the survival of many species and disrupts ecosystems.
Full definition
I'm asking the intelligence community to produce an assessment of the impact of large - scale
wildlife trafficking on our security interests so we can fully understand what we're up against.
What's more, we are increasingly
seeing wildlife trafficking has serious implications for the security and prosperity of people around the world.
«The scope and scale of
illegal wildlife trafficking today is unprecedented,» said Meredith Gore, an associate professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State University and Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of State.
At home in the United States, we fully support the government's exemplary efforts to
combat wildlife trafficking, including working towards a nearly complete domestic ban on ivory trade and treating wildlife as a serious crime.
Whereas the 2011 U.S. Strategy to Combat Transnational Organised Crime omitted
wildlife trafficking as a primary type of transnational organised crime, by 2013, President Obama's Executive Order 13648 established a Task Force to produce a National Strategy for Combatting Wildlife Trafficking on the grounds it was in «the national interest of the United States.»
In Africa and Asia, WCS is working with governments to
stop wildlife trafficking at the source, transport and consumer ends of the chain.
On June 19th, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crushed a ton of seized illegal ivory in New York's Times Square, and last week top officials from the United States and China focused on combating
wildlife trafficking at the annual Strategic & Economic Dialogue.
The United States government implemented its own ban on ivory trade in 2016, and imposed stricter penalties to those who engage
in wildlife trafficking.
At about the same time that the U.S. House of Representatives was readying legislation to combat poaching and
wildlife trafficking for President Obama's signature, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) delivered 90 finger - length giant Thai catfish, a critically endangered species, to Shedd Aquarium.
The first aerial assessment of the impact of South Sudan's current civil war on the country's wildlife and other natural resources shows that significant wildlife populations have so far survived, but poaching and
commercial wildlife trafficking are increasing, as well as illegal mining, timber harvesting and charcoal production, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said in a report issued today.
«They confirm that the scale of the illegal wildlife trade — including trade in plants — is much greater than we had previously thought, and that
wildlife trafficking concerns many more species than the charismatic rhinos and elephants which tend to receive global attention.
The announcement follows an executive order President Barack Obama issued in Tanzania in July 2013 for the U.S. government to improve its efforts to
fight wildlife trafficking.
But Rabinowitz meets local conservationists and scientists determined to hold fast, giving a sense of hope toward the film's end — but one tempered by hints of
rising wildlife trafficking — and Rabinowitz's own mortality.
More than 400 criminals,
including wildlife trafficking kingpins, were arrested in Asia and Africa with investigations still ongoing in many countries, thanks to the efforts of law enforcement officers from 28 countries who took part in the one - month operation that targeted wildlife criminals in January 2014.
Shen announced several new initiatives, including having United States intelligence agencies to produce «an assessment of the impact of large -
scale wildlife trafficking on our security interests.»
Conservation Justice, one of the private groups working with Gabonese authorities to
curb wildlife trafficking, is encouraging people to send congratulatory notes to Kouma Zaou and other officials leading the effort.
Anyone who travels to Southeast Asia and Australia,
where wildlife trafficking is a huge problem, can lend their senses and their smartphones to the cause.
[O] ver the past few
years wildlife trafficking has become more organized, more lucrative, more widespread, and more dangerous than ever before.
High - level U.S. and China representatives will meet this week in Washington, D.C. for the 7th Strategic and Economic Dialogue,
with wildlife trafficking on the agenda for the third time.
Although traditional conservation efforts have been aimed at protecting apes from bushmeat poaching and habitat loss, efforts to combat
organized wildlife trafficking has been largely unsuccessful.
From the steamy jungle of Costa Rica to the high seas of Norway, Agent Poppy McVie infiltrates the dark underworld of
illegal wildlife trafficking.
Ferreira calls herself a «forensic biologist» and is working to
stop wildlife trafficking, when thousands of animals are removed from the wild and sold as pets.
The symposium will gather together leading experts to discuss the challenges of developing, implementing, and evaluating policies addressing the impacts
of wildlife trafficking on biodiversity, development, human health, law enforcement, and regional security.
WASHINGTON (Reuters)- The United States will destroy its six - ton stockpile of elephant ivory as a way to
combat wildlife trafficking, an international fight that often has law enforcement outgunned by well - financed crime syndicates, White House panelists said on Monday.
Fortunately, just last month the United States and China made important commitments to reduce the impact of
wildlife trafficking on totoaba.
«Illegal
wildlife trafficking is a crime that can converge with other serious crimes, such as drug trafficking.»
Local authorities removed 137 tigers from a Buddhist monastery in western Thailand, citing evidence of
wildlife trafficking.
Li pleaded guilty to 11 counts of smuggling, illegal
wildlife trafficking and lying on customs documents.
He headed toward the departure lounge and waited to board his flight, but federal police officers recognized him as the leader of an international gang of
wildlife trafficking and swooped in.
Commercial poaching and
wildlife trafficking, committed by heavily armed groups moving across borders as well as local actors, has greatly impacted the area.
EnviroWatch over the past 20 years has contributed undercover investigative work and photography to many of the most prominent environmental organizations worldwide, on subjects including illegal shark fishing and other types of maritime poaching,
wildlife trafficking, and conservation of native Hawaiian birds, including the nene and several other rare species that Cox accurately predicted were further jeopardized by misguided public policies.
Illegal
wildlife trafficking is one of the world's top criminal activities — ranked alongside drugs, arms, and human trafficking.
Given the scope of
wildlife trafficking, this arrest fits in the same «small victories» category as the 2010 case in which baggage inspectors at Bangkok's international airport discovered a sedated tiger cub in a checked suitcase of a Thai woman bound for Iran.
Click here for a transcript of my talk: «The role of communication innovations in stemming — and worsening —
wildlife trafficking.»
While it is easy to feel detached from international poaching,
wildlife trafficking is also a major problem within the United States.
In an effort to focus attention on the enormity of
the wildlife trafficking crisis, the fourth largest transnational crime, the United States...
In an effort to focus attention on the enormity of
the wildlife trafficking crisis, the fourth largest transnational crime, the United States destroyed its stockpile of nearly 6 tons of illegal elephant ivory products on November 14th.
The United States needs to crack down on
wildlife trafficking and enact a moratorium on domestic ivory trade.
If you're starting to hear more news about elephant and rhino poaching or
wildlife trafficking, in general, it's no surprise.
To human and
wildlife trafficking.