Wildlife Crime

It takes a network to stop a network. We’re fighting wildlife crime by working with local communities and park rangers to stop poaching at its source, engaging governments, communities and businesses to disrupt trafficking networks, and educating the public about what not to buy.

We work with park rangers and law enforcement officials, providing training to prevent wildlife crime on the ground and respond to poaching incidents in the field. We have enlisted the help of local communities, too, that act as informer networks. In Tanzania and Malawi, for instance, there are rapid response teams that stop incursions by poachers in Kilimanjaro and Kasungu National Parks.

We’re training local law enforcement and border agents to crack down on traffickers. That starts with identifying wildlife in trade. In Morocco, for instance, we’ve upgraded the screening process at customs to help officials detect Barbary macaques. Moreover, we’re helping law enforcement agents develop protocols for properly handling living wildlife during seizure, administering emergency veterinary care, as well as where to ultimately send rescued animals.

We can’t stop wildlife crime by cracking down on poachers and traffickers alone. We also need to reduce the demand for live animals and animal parts. We’re doing that in two ways: first, by working with companies to ensure that trafficked animals and illegal wildlife products don’t appear in their stores or online platforms and second, by leading public awareness campaigns that teach people about wildlife crime and how to avoid the products created by it.

A poacher in Suriname can sell animal parts to a Chinese buyer on an American website. Wildlife crime is an international problem, and we’re after international solutions. We work with governments and partner organizations to produce effective global, regional, national and local legislation and policies that protect individual wild animals, wild populations, and their habitats.