Home » What we do » Safeguarding the natural world » Wildlife » Illegal wildlife trade

Illegal wildlife trade

Elephant tusks stored away under extreme security measures in the ivory stock pile of the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

The illegal wildlife trade is one of the biggest threats to the survival of some of the world’s rarest species. In fact it’s second only to habitat destruction as a cause of species loss and potential extinction.

That’s why tackling illegal wildlife trade is such a vital and urgent part of our work at WWF.

There's actually been an unprecedented spike in illegal wildlife trade across the world in recent years, which is threatening to overturn decades of conservation successes, especially for key species like rhinos, elephants and tigers.

Here are just a few of the shocking figures:

Between 2007-2011, rhino poaching in South Africa increased 3,000%.
More than 23 tonnes of illegal ivory was uncovered in a number of big seizures in 2011 - which itself corresponds to at least 2,500 elephants.
There may be as few as 3,200 wild tigers left in the world - and the increase in poaching makes extinction of tiger species a very real threat.

We're stepping up our efforts to tackle this deadly and destructive trade - and we need your support to help us turn things around.

Why we can't ignore wildlife crime

Watch this short 7-minute extract from a documentary made for NBC's Rock Center programme in early 2012. It includes some of the people closely involved with protecting rhinos on the ground in South Africa, and how they're being affected by the epidemic of poaching there.

It's followed by Dr Joseph Okori, head of WWF's rhino programme in Africa, summing up our take on the poaching crisis.

Please note - these films contains emotional and disturbing images that may well upset you, but we feel it's important to show what's really happening right now to wonderful creatures like the rhino - and why we're ramping up our efforts to protect them and halt the illegal wildlife trade, with your support. Please help our campaign.

And here's Tom Milliiken of TRAFFIC, our wildlife trade monitoring partner, making it very clear just how organised, technological, ruthless and hard to track the poachers and wildlife traders really are...

More about wildlife trade – legal and illegal

The term ‘wildlife trade’ actually refers to a mostly legal practice. It covers a wide spectrum of everyday activities and products – for instance:

timber used for furniture or building materials
exotic flowers, plants or pets
‘wild’ ingredients sourced for medicines and cosmetics
clothes, shoes or bags made from, for example, reptile skins.

Almost all sealife (other than farmed fish) is obviously wild too. So most people, whether we think about it or not, are involved in wildlife trade in some way - even if it’s just as end consumers of wild products.

Wildlife trade only becomes a problem, and of prime concern to us at WWF, when the trade becomes unsustainable and puts the future survival of a species at risk.

Since 1975 there’s been an agreement between governments around the world known as CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which aims to ensure the international trade in a wild plant or animal does not threaten its future.

At the moment there are 175 member states, or ‘parties’, signed up to CITES – in other words the vast majority of countries in the world, with rare exceptions like North Korea and Angola.

International species conservation policy

We work with the UK government - and across the world through the global WWF Network - to influence international policy on conservation issues affecting some of the world’s most important species. We make sure our voice is heard particularly at two important policy bodies: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Wildlife crime in the UK

You might not realise it, but the illegal trade in wildlife is a problem here in the UK too. Find out the various ways we're tackling it - and how you can help support our work.

Marine turtles' skins and boxes made of Marine turtles scales seized at customs.© WWF / Wil LUIIJF

TRAFFIC

TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is a joint conservation programme of WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Wildlife Crime Scorecard 2012

WWF Wildlife Crime Scorecard Report

African rhino poaching crisis

The number of rhinos illegally killed in 2011 reached 448 in South Africa alone – that’s a mind-blowing 3,000% increase from 2007. By mid-2012 the death toll was already over 260...

Find out more

How you can help

Membership funds can help fight illegal wildlife trade in many species

Latest news

More news

More illegal wildlife trade news