Wildlife smuggling

Wildlife smuggling or trafficking involves the illegal gathering, transportation, and distribution of animals and their derivatives. This can be done either internationally or domestically. Estimates of the money generated by wildlife smuggling vary, in part because of its illegal nature. Wildlife smuggling is estimated at $7.8bn to $10bn a year, but the illegal nature of such activities make determining the amount of money involved incredibly difficult. When considered with illegal timber and fisheries, wildlife trafficking is a major illegal trade along with narcotics, human trafficking, and counterfeit products.

Products demanded by the trade include exotic pets, food, traditional medicine, clothing, and jewellery made from animals' tusks, fins, skins, shells, horns, and internal organs. Smuggled wildlife is an increasing global demand; it is estimated that the US, China, and the European Union are the places with the highest demand.

At the core of the illegal wildlife trafficking is a strong and rapidly expanding demand for a variety of products around the world: bushmeat; ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine; exotic pets; jewelry, trinkets, and accessories such as chess sets; furs for uses ranging from coats to traditional costumes; and trophies. With the exception of bushmeat, which is used as a primary source of protein by some cultures, all of these uses of illegally obtained wildlife are trophies, driven by a desire to be seen as more affluent, adventurous, or successful than others.

In many parts of Africa, the main demand for illegal wildlife comes from the consumption of bushmeat. Wild animals are a preferred as a source of protein and primates are considered a delicacy. It is believed that up to 40,000 monkeys are killed and eventually consumed each year in Africa alone via smuggling. Many primates are killed by bushmeat hunters, who supply to markets all over Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Much of demand for rhinoceros horns, tiger bones, and other animal products arises out of the practice of traditional Chinese medicine, which uses these ingredients to treat fevers, gout, and other illnesses; maintain good health and longevity; and enhance sexual potency. Traditional Chinese medicines are taken by hundreds of millions of people. For example, some practitioners drink an expensive liquid made from tiger bones to improve their circulation, treat arthritis, and strengthen the body, in general. The sale of tiger bones and products made from them is an example of the confusion that can exist on the topic. The sale of bones was outlawed in China in 1993; however, a pilot program, established in 2005, allows the use of bones for captive-bred tigers. This can create a confusion in the minds of buyers as to whether the bones were legally obtained. Regardless, tiger wine cannot be sold legally in China, although advertisements for it ran on state television channel in 2011 and journalist attended an auction where tiger wine was offered for sale. Many of the traditional Chinese medicines fail to cure anything, although the demand for them continues to expand greatly and to the detriment of wildlife.

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