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Internet facilitating illegal wildlife trade: Activist
By siliconindia
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Monday, 18 January 2010, 14:55 IST
Singapore: An animal rights activist has claimed that illegal wildlife traders are turning to the Internet to reach a wider customer base, circumvent laws and evade authorities, reports Economic Times.
Items such as rhinoceros horns, leopard pelts and even live tiger cubs are being hawked openly in online advertisements on public websites, said Grace Ge, Asian Regional Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
According to Grace, the Internet offers anonymity for the seller as well as fast and untraceable sales, while inadequate legislation governing online companies ensures relative impunity. "The Internet has facilitated the trading of wildlife, which is having a devastating effect on animals and ecosystems worldwide," she said.
Through the Internet, traders are able to circumvent rules, regulations and evade enforcement, Ge told delegates at the Asia for Animals 2010 conference. Citing an IFAW study on the illegal online wildlife trade in 2008, Ge said there was a huge volume of wildlife and their products traded online on a daily basis.
The research was conducted over a three-month period in 2008 in 11 countries including the United States, China, Australia and several European nations. It found 7,122 online advertisements selling endangered species or products derived from their slaughter.
The United States was a major culprit as the source of 70.5 percent of advertisements, followed by Britain and China with 7.7 percent and 7.6 percent respectively, the study showed.
Estimates of the value of final sales on these websites totaled more than $457,000, but the actual amount was likely to be higher as most sites did not advertise their prices, according to the study.
