THE CHALLENGE
What is Wildlife Crime?
Wildlife Crime has many sub-categories and facets including poaching, killing endangered species, illegal hunting and trophy collection, trade in live animals or animal body parts, smuggling, and animal cruelty. The byproduct of organised wildlife crime is a range of other offences including murder, assault, slavery, oppression, habitat destruction, firearms offences and money-laundering.
Illegal lion bone sets – image taken on a covert investigation.
The victims of wildlife crime are the species that are driven close to or into extinction, the people in proximity to those animals, who are often brutalised, killed or enmeshed in the illegal trade but also further afield the victims of organised crime through the entire supply chain. Wildlife crime is never a victimless crime – we all lose every time a crime is committed.
