No signs of slowdown in wildlife trafficking in 2024 as demand persists

Wildlife trafficking remains a pressing threat to the survival of countless species, with sharks, pangolins, rhinos, birds, big cats and others among the hardest hit. Mongabay’s extensive reporting aligns with the 2024 U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) World Wildlife Crime Report, which highlights these species as prime targets of a $20 billion per year illegal trade.

The UNODC report finds that despite some progress, “wildlife trafficking overall has not been significantly reduced in two decades,” and now affects more than 4,000 animal and plant species from 162 countries and territories. Our yearlong coverage confirms this, showing that trafficking continues in both well-regulated and poorly regulated countries, reflecting systemic weaknesses that traffickers exploit. Mongabay also continued to spotlight the wildlife trade on social media, which continues despite pledges by platforms to ban it.

However, not all is bleak. Our coverage showcased some positive developments, including local leaders and Indigenous communities working alongside scientists to restore species populations heavily impacted by poaching and trade. There have also been discoveries of species in severely poached areas, offering hope for their survival.

Here’s a lookback at the key investigations and stories that defined Mongabay’s coverage of wildlife trafficking in 2024.

Transnational wildlife crime networks

In 2024, Mongabay’s reporting focused on the growing transnational and organized nature of wildlife crime networks. Fueled by money and influence, these syndicates target species such as sharks, rhinos, birds, big cats, primates and more, while also engaging in other criminal activities.

Topping our list is the illegal shark fin trade, increasingly driven by “crime convergence,” where wildlife trafficking overlaps with other criminal activities like drug smuggling and human trafficking, requiring international law enforcement collaboration to combat. One example of this is our investigation in Colombia, which revealed that the owner of the massive haul of shark fins seized in 2021 was the son of a leader of the Cali Cartel, one of the world’s largest drug-trafficking organizations.

Moneyed and influential people are indeed major players in wildlife poaching and trade, as seen in Africa, where a luxury hunting firm catering to UAE elites is linked to decades of poaching in Tanzania. Emirati VIP tourist hunters, on trips organized by the firm, violated regulations by killing giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) and other animals in Tanzania’s Loliondo Game Controlled Area, with the meat reportedly sent to Dubai and no enforcement action taken.

The global reach of wildlife trafficking was also underscored by the seizure in Thailand of 48 lemurs and more than 1,200 critically endangered tortoises from Madagascar, destined for illegal pet markets in Asia. Likewise, the consumption of tiger parts by Bangladesh’s globally connected elites, with supplies reaching 15 countries, indicates both nations’ roles as consumer markets and transshipment hubs. These cases stress the pressing need for cross-border collaboration between enforcement authorities to dismantle transnational wildlife crime networks.

Wildlife criminals exploit persisting institutional weakness

Despite international efforts to curb shark finning and the shark trade, 2024 revealed that bans and regulations aren’t always effectively enforced, especially in the world’s top shark exporting and importing countries. A global shark study revealed a 4% rise in coastal shark mortality between 2012 and 2019, suggesting shark finning bans may not curb deaths and could inadvertently boost demand for shark meat.

Institutional weaknesses seen in the shark trade also affect rhinos and birds in range countries like Indonesia. A Mongabay Indonesia investigation revealed that organized groups within Ujung Kulon National Park, facilitated by insider information from corrupt officials, killed 26 Javan rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus) — nearly a third of the species total population — between 2019 and 2023, with concerns that losses may be higher than officially reported. Meanwhile, authorities seized more than 6,500 birds, including endangered songbirds, at a Sumatran port, but experts argue the focus should shift to addressing sources and rooting out corrupt officials who issue fraudulent licenses that allow wild-caught birds to be passed off as captive-bred specimens.

Monkeys, capable of spreading viruses, parasites and bacteria along trafficking routes, are also severely affected by systemic shortcomings. In Togo, the seizure of 38 monkeys, including species trafficked from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Thailand, revealed inadequate border inspections in the DRC. In Guatemala, major information gaps persist regarding the illegal trade of monkeys and other threatened species, with many animal origins uncertain and minimal government action to address the issue. Venezuela’s political and economic crises have made it a hotspot for wildlife trafficking in Latin America, with threatened species like monkeys, sloths, parrots and parakeets sold openly. The Venezuelan government not only turns a blind eye but also bans environmental watchdog NGOs, enabling transnational criminal networks to operate unchecked.

Yet even in highly regulated regions like the EU, wildlife policies have loopholes that allow illegal trade to persist. The introduction of Spix’s macaws (Cyanopsitta spixii), extinct in the wild, from Brazil into the EU — despite a commercial trade ban — shows how unregulated breeders exploit gaps in CITES, the international wildlife trade convention. Syndicates also exploit financial institution gaps to launder money and wildlife, bribing officials and falsifying documents to meet CITES requirements for export permits. This allows Brazil’s threatened species, from ornamental fish to monkeys, to be trafficked primarily to markets in Europe, China and the U.S.

Institutional weaknesses in protecting wildlife like elephants (Loxodonta africana) and hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) can also mean that antipoaching measures aren’t humanely enforced. In Uganda, a Mongabay investigation revealed that park rangers have used violent methods, including harming or killing subsistence poachers during arrests, eroding the rule of law and perpetuating abuses for decades. In Kenya, the establishment of protected areas banned native hunting without alternatives, pushing communities into poverty and displacing them from ancestral lands in the name of conservation. These cases underscore the need for humane and inclusive antipoaching strategies.

Online marketplaces continue to enable illegal wildlife trade

Social media remains a major platform for the illegal wildlife trade, with traffickers continuing to exploit these sites in 2024 despite commitments from companies like Facebook to curb wildlife transactions.

Social media remains a hub for illegal wildlife trade in Indonesia. Groups facilitating the parrot trade, including protected species like the yellow-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea), black-capped lory (Lorius lory) and Moluccan eclectus (Eclectus roratus), continue to thrive post-pandemic. Similarly, rhino poachers use social media to operate networks between Java and Sumatra, prompting calls for targeted actions to dismantle these operations. In East Java, shark and ray products are still openly advertised online, accentuating the ineffectiveness of platform pledges to prevent wildlife transactions. Similarly, in Bangladesh, endangered birds like macaws and parakeets are smuggled from Central and South America and overtly sold on social media, prompting a CITES suspension and calls for stricter enforcement measures.

A similar trend continues in Brazil, where poachers openly share images of wildlife they’ve killed, including threatened species, on Facebook to flaunt their hunting skills. A study found 2,000 poaching-related posts between 2018 and 2020, involving 4,658 animals from 157 species. The content, mostly trophy hunts, points to the impunity for environmental crimes and the ease of spreading illegal practices on social media, prompting conservationists to urge specialized agents in law enforcement to address the growing online aspect of wildlife crimes.

Local initiatives, justice, new discoveries bring hope for species recovery

Despite ongoing trafficking threats, 2024 has seen hopeful developments for threatened species.

In Indonesia’s Raja Ampat, a rewilding program is underway to restore the zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) population, which has dwindled to just 20 individuals. Also in Indonesia, a court handed a landmark 12-year sentence to a gang leader responsible for rhino poaching. While conservationists remain concerned as the Javan rhino continues to edge closer to extinction, the sighting of a Javan rhino calf raised optimism for the species’ survival. In Kenya, the successful relocation of 21 black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), rebounding from poaching, to Loisaba Conservancy offers further hope. In the Central African Republic’s Dzanga-Sangha National Park, forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), hunted for ivory, are showing signs of recovery thanks to antipoaching enforcement campaigns, collaboration with local communities, and judicious land-use planning.

For birds, conservation efforts are making strides. In Brazil, a conservation project is working to reintroduce the heavily trafficked great-billed seed finch (Sporophila maximiliani), driven to local extinction in much of its range, by collaborating with locals in the Cerrado’s Grande Sertão Veredas region. Meanwhile, in Guyana, Indigenous communities led by Whitley Award winner Leroy Ignacio have successfully conserved the red siskin (Spinus cucullatus) for decades, inspiring broader education and antipoaching efforts, though the species remains threatened by illegal hunting and the pet trade.

Local leaders like Whitley Award winner Raju Acharya, who trains enforcers and policymakers to protect owls in Nepal, and farmer Jamal Adam, who rehabilitates parrots rescued from the pet trade in eastern Indonesia, are key to bird recovery. In Ghana, forest rangers’ efforts led to the first recorded nests of three critically endangered vulture species in Mole National Park, highlighting the need to continuously support ranger programs. Tribal leader Datu Julito Ahao has spent nearly 40 years safeguarding critically endangered Philippine eagles (Pithecophaga jefferyi), ensuring the survival of 16 juveniles and founding the Bantay Bukid forest guard program to protect their habitat in the southern Philippines. In Peru, where authorities struggle to get turtle eggs off the menu, citizen scientists like Jana Reintjes have stepped in to protect the eggs and turtles, hoping increased awareness will improve survival chances.

In Indonesia’s Aceh province, a small population of 11 adult Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) was identified, prompting calls for stronger protection measures to safeguard this vital population from poaching in the Ulu Masen Ecosystem, a region largely outside Indonesia’s protected areas network. Meanwhile, the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) population in Thailand’s western forests is recovering, thanks to long-term efforts to strengthen ranger patrols and restore key habitats and water sources, offering hope for replenishing other tiger habitats across the country. In Cambodia, the discovery of nine sea turtle nests off the southwest coast brings hope for critically endangered hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and endangered green turtles (Chelonia mydas), but their survival is threatened by ongoing illegal turtle consumption despite national protections.

Renewed calls for improved traceability, environmental education, research

Improving traceability for heavily targeted species like sharks and pangolins is key to exposing black markets by revealing their origins, capture methods, and handlers. For pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammal, a universal tagging system has been proposed to aid both researchers and law enforcement in monitoring and disrupting illegal trade networks. However, traceability can at times also backfire, as seen in China’s proposal for ID tags on bird leg rings and microchips in reptiles. Without oversight, conservationists warn this “special marking system” could boost demand and fuel an unregulated pet trade, undermining conservation efforts both within China and internationally.

This year, addressing wildlife trafficking at both the source and demand sides has also emerged as a recurring theme. In Vietnam, conservationists stress that shifting local attitudes is essential for the success of rewilding 50 captive-bred spotted softshell turtles (Pelodiscus variegatus). In Malaysia’s Taman Negara, experts say effective deterrents require understanding and addressing the socioeconomic drivers of local poaching, in addition to ranger patrols and seizures. In West Africa, conservationists stress the need to disprove the medicinal value of vulture parts, which are being increasingly poached for belief-based use. Likewise, a new study challenges the use of rhino horns in traditional Chinese medicine, revealing their low mineral concentrations and potential toxicity, underscoring the need for consumer education to curb demand for these products.

Finally, this year’s global wildlife trafficking trends call for urgent improvements on all fronts to address the crisis driving species toward extinction. As the UNODC report emphasizes, “more consistent enforcement to tackle both supply and demand, effective implementation of legislation, including anti-corruption laws, and stronger monitoring and research are needed.”

This article by Keith Anthony Fabro was first published by Mongabay.com on 25 December 2024. Lead Image: Sharks cast aside after being finned. Image by Sebastián Losada via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

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