Anonymity on the internet makes illegal animal trade easier
The battlefield of the war against animal trafficking is growing ever more sophisticated
The internet gives wildlife traders new tools for illegal trade‚ and others the means to fight back. That is what the president of International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw)‚ Azzedine Downes‚ said in the organisation’s latest research report‚ titled “Disrupt: Wildlife Cybercrime”. Ifaw project manager Tania McCrea-Steele said: “As organised criminal gangs are using ever more sophisticated means for trafficking ivory‚ we‚ too‚ are using pioneering methods to stop poaching and wildlife trafficking‚ from community involvement to hi-tech innovation. We need to create a network to defeat a criminal network.” The organisation researched online wildlife trading on online marketplaces and social media platforms over six weeks last year in France‚ Germany‚ Russia and the UK. They excluded closed or private Facebook groups‚ password-protected websites and the dark web. They found 11‚772 protected wildlife specimens in 5‚381 online advertisements or posts on 106 online marketplaces and four ...
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