Wildlife Crime Enforcement: Protecting Animals from Illegal Trade

Wildlife crime is the fourth largest illegal trade globally, causing massive welfare harms to individual animals and driving species toward extinction.

Key Facts

Wildlife trafficking generates an estimated $23 billion annually in illegal revenue
Animals taken in the wildlife trade experience extreme stress, injury, and high mortality during capture and transport
The ivory trade drives elephant poaching that kills approximately 20,000 elephants annually
Online platforms have increasingly become marketplaces for illegal wildlife products
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) regulates but cannot eliminate illegal wildlife trade

Welfare Considerations

Wildlife crime causes welfare harms at multiple levels: the terror and trauma of capture, the extreme stress and mortality of transport, and the suffering of animals kept in inadequate conditions at destination. For every live animal that arrives at its destination, many die en route. The welfare case for wildlife crime enforcement is therefore both direct — reducing individual animal suffering — and systemic — protecting populations and ecosystems. Consumer demand drives wildlife crime, making individual purchasing decisions a meaningful intervention.

What You Can Do

Never purchase wildlife products of uncertain or illegal origin
Report suspected wildlife crime to CITES national authorities or TRAFFIC
Support anti-trafficking organizations including Wildlife Justice Commission and TRAFFIC
Advocate for stronger penalties for wildlife trafficking offenses in your jurisdiction
Refuse to support wildlife tourism that uses illegally captured animals