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- Trend snippet: Wildlife traffickers increasingly target endemic and non-CITES listed European species, as well as exotic reptiles
Trends in Security Information
The HSD Trendmonitor is designed to provide access to relevant content on various subjects in the safety and security domain, to identify relevant developments and to connect knowledge and organisations. The safety and security domain encompasses a vast number of subjects. Four relevant taxonomies (type of threat or opportunity, victim, source of threat and domain of application) have been constructed in order to visualize all of these subjects. The taxonomies and related category descriptions have been carefully composed according to other taxonomies, European and international standards and our own expertise.
In order to identify safety and security related trends, relevant reports and HSD news articles are continuously scanned, analysed and classified by hand according to the four taxonomies. This results in a wide array of observations, which we call ‘Trend Snippets’. Multiple Trend Snippets combined can provide insights into safety and security trends. The size of the circles shows the relative weight of the topic, the filters can be used to further select the most relevant content for you. If you have an addition, question or remark, drop us a line at info@securitydelta.nl.
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Wildlife traffickers increasingly target endemic and non-CITES listed European species, as well as exotic reptiles
online. Criminal groups composed of EU and non-EU nationals are involved in wildlife trafficking across several continents.
Wildlife crime Wildlife crime refers to poaching, collecting, trading (supplying, selling or trafficking), importing, exporting, processing, possessing, obtaining and consumption of wild fauna and flora, including timber and other forest products, in contravention of national or international law(31). Wildlife crime increases the risks of extinction of endangered fauna and flora and of further degradation of biodiversity. Wildlife trafficking also presents risks to human health via the possible transmission of diseases.
Traffickers increasingly target endemic and non-CITES(32) -listed European species, in particular birds and big cats. There has also been an increase in demand for exotic reptiles. Traffickers may further concentrate their activities on endemic and non-CITES-listed specimens to circumvent current international legislative frameworks, which mostly cover endangered wildlife. The majority of trafficked animals are sold and bought online. Sellers and buyers use online marketplaces, social media, mobile applications and specialised fora where networks of regular sellers and buyers discuss available merchandise, offers and prices or share 32 CITES is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. knowledge and expertise on hunting and breeding techniques. Common encrypted communication tools such as mobile applications and online chats are widely used by traffickers, sellers and buyers. Criminal groups composed of EU and non-EU nationals are involved in wildlife trafficking across several continents. The nationality of suspects largely depends on their role. Poachers and collectors almost always come from the country of origin of the trafficked specimens, while mules often have links to the countries of destination. Some wildlife traffickers reportedly also engage in excise fraud and drug trafficking.