The spectacle of magnificent, endangered creatures such as tigers, elephants and rhinos reduced to broken, bleeding carcasses, plundered for illegal trades in home decór, trinkets and fake ‘traditional’ medicines, can be all but impossible to view without provoking distress and fury in equal measure
Justin Gosling has worked in enforcement for 21 years and specialises in environmental crime. A former British police detective and INTERPOL intelligence officer, he worked as a Senior Investigator for EIA from 2006, conducting investigations into the ivory and tiger trade in Africa and Asia
In a joint press release with the Wildlife Protection Society of India and Freeland we explain that the recent CITES meeting in Bangkok did not go far enough to tackle poaching of elephants, tigers and rhinos by continuing to allow domestic and international trade of wildlife products which drives illegal activity.
A report urging the US Secretary of Interior to certify Vietnam under the Pelly Amendment for diminishing the effectiveness of CITES. It also calls on Vietnam to implement and enforce a complete domestic ban on all rhino trade, including live animals
Rhino populations are being hammered by poachers, pushing the species ever-closer to extinction to satisfy demand for rhino horn in Vietnam and elsewhere – yet despite 668 rhinos being slaughtered by poachers across South Africa in 2012, there are indications it is contemplating pushing for a legal trade in rhino horn
The UK’s Home Office is urged to fund the country’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, one of the world’s premier wildlife crime enforcement bodies which sets the international standard for intelligence-led enforcement, maximising the use of limited resources to target key criminals engaged in serious and organised crime