Choose Country

Fight Illegal Wildlife Trade

IFAW works on the front lines of the fight to end the deadly illegal trade in wildlife. We prompted eBay, the world’s largest internet auction site, to ban the sale of ivory after an IFAW investigation tracked more than 7,000 wildlife product listings on 183 web sites in 11 countries and discovered elephant ivory accounted for 73 percent of the trade. IFAW was also instrumental in  Taobao.com's adoption of a ban on shark fin  offers on their online auction? Web site, China’s largest.  

In the Caribbean, IFAW wildlife enforcement training prompted an unprecedented seizure and rescue in 2009 of more than 1,000 animals in the twin-island Republic of Trinidad & Tobago and  trained over 200 officers in the Middle East and North Africa in the prevention of illegal wildlife trade. A few months earlier, in the largest ever crackdown on wildlife trade, IFAW worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Interpol on a four-month operation that netted a ton of ivory items and 57 suspects. In India, IFAW ,  and  our partner Wildlife Trust of India, helped save the   endangered Tibetan antelope from extinction by winning a ban on  the sale of shahtoosh shawls, made from the fine wool of dead antelopes.


Tigers Under Threat: Keep the Trade in Tiger Parts Illegal
Global demand for a "magic pill" to cure things such as arthritis, waning sexual function and even leprosy, compounded by skyrocketing purchasing power in the Far East is threatening the few remaining tigers found throughout their ranges worldwide.


Killing with Keystrokes: Wildlife Trade on the Internet
The Internet has become the world's biggest marketplace, one that is open for business 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As unregulated and anonymous as it is unlimited, the Internet provides endless opportunities for illegal criminal activities and transactions. Increasingly, the Internet is a means by which the illicit trade in wildlife is conducted: a trade so great that it is now estimated to be second only to rival illegal trafficking in drugs and weapons.


Think Twice - Don't Buy Wildlife Souvenirs
Every year, millions of tourists unwittingly support the illegal wildlife trade as they buy endangered species as souvenirs. The impact of buying illegal animal products is also felt by ecosystems and indigenous communities, and something CAN be done.


Protecting Animals With International Treaties
See why the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is a critical tool for protecting animals from potentially devastating effects of international trade.


All Publications

Learn more about IFAW's campaign "Fight against Illegal Trade in Wildlife".



New Partnership

IFAW is pleased to announce that we have signed a Partnership Agreement with the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS).


Resources

The International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) is a network of government and non-government enforcement and compliance practitioners from over 100 countries.