When most people hear terms like poaching, wildlife trafficking or illegal wildlife trade, they probably think of threatened species such as elephants, rhinos, tigers or sharks. Geographically, wildlife crime may feel like a problem confined to southern Africa or southeast and East Asia.
In recent years, experts have increasingly stated illegal wildlife trade converges with other forms of serious and organized crime, such as drug and human trafficking. Though reported in the media, empirical evidence has been lacking.
Of course, these species have long been heavily trafficked, and those regions are major hotspots for the trade. However, illegal wildlife trade affects thousands of species of wild plants, animals and fungi, and has been reported in 162 countries, including Canada, which is far from a passive bystander.
Illegal wildlife trade is one of the largest criminal activities in the world and some black markets are growing each year. The immense scale of the problem, coupled with a changing climate and a widening gap between organized crime and countries’ capacities to respond, poses a mounting global concern.
Yet one of the biggest gaps in our understanding has been the nature of organized crime connections to illegal wildlife trade, hardly surprising given how difficult criminal networks are to study.
In recent years, experts have increasingly stated illegal wildlife trade converges with other forms of serious and organized crime, such as drug and human trafficking.
Though reported in the media, empirical evidence has been lacking. Much of what we knew about these convergences came from anecdotal reports and reviews. In response, research by our team in 2021 and 2022 reviewed existing knowledge and theorized how these criminal convergences work, laying the groundwork for new empirical research.
Our latest study documents those connections directly through more than 100 interviews with investigators on the ground in Canada, South Africa and Hong Kong. This study mapped how illegal wildlife trade intersects with other organized criminal activities.
A complex web of criminality
Our findings confirm that wildlife trafficking is rarely isolated. Whether in South Africa’s rhino reserves, Hong Kong’s shipping terminals or Canada’s coastal towns, the same pattern repeats: the people and networks trading in wildlife are often involved in other illicit activities.
In Canada, interviewees described wildlife being bartered like currency. In several provinces, fish and animal parts, such as sturgeon, have been exchanged directly for illegal drugs.
Our research shows that illegal wildlife trade converges with drug, sex and human trafficking, child abuse, trade in human body parts, forced and bonded labour, arms trafficking, vehicle theft and trafficking, counterfeit and pirated goods trade, and illegal trade in metals and minerals. The list goes on.
In Canada, interviewees described wildlife being bartered like currency. In several provinces, fish and animal parts, such as sturgeon, have been exchanged directly for illegal drugs. One officer recalled raiding a trafficker’s house and finding grizzly bear and polar bear hides that had been exchanged for high-value narcotics.
Similar stories came from other provinces, where guns are often illegally exchanged for wildlife, or where migrant workers are illegally exploited in illegal wildlife processing facilities. Some cases were small-scale, localized operations, while others linked local poachers to sophisticated international organized crime networks.
Still other cases connected wildlife to the murkier “oddities” trade: human bones, preserved reptiles, bird parts and other macabre collectables. In these circles, even the line between wildlife trafficking and the illegal sale of human remains can blur.
How Canada fits a global pattern
The Canadian examples mirrored experiences reported by law enforcement in other countries. In South Africa, rhino horn trafficking networks have also run child exploitation rings; in Hong Kong, shark fins and endangered turtles are trafficked alongside counterfeit and pirated goods.
Across all three jurisdictions, convergence of these crimes follows the same logic: shared infrastructure and the pursuit of profit from illegal sources.
Trafficking illegal commodities requires prearranged transportation, trusted fixers, corrupt officials and money laundering channels. Diversifying into wildlife simply offers another revenue stream with relatively low penalties if caught.
Trafficking illegal commodities requires prearranged transportation, trusted fixers, corrupt officials and money laundering channels. Diversifying into wildlife simply offers another revenue stream with relatively low penalties if caught. As one investigator told us: “If you’re a smuggler, the commodity might change, but you will remain a smuggler.”
Despite these convergences, Canada’s response remains siloed, inadequately prioritized and under-resourced. Wildlife crime cases are generally handled by conservation or environment authorities, while narcotics, arms and human trafficking cases fall to police or border agencies, each constrained within geographically defined jurisdictions.
This siloed system creates blind spots that sophisticated networks exploit. Without mechanisms for joint intelligence-sharing and prosecution, each agency sees only pieces of the puzzle.
Tackling converging crimes
Canada’s experience is part of a much larger global challenge. Delegates from around the world will soon gather in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), where they will discuss strengthening enforcement and co-operation. Countering illegal wildlife trade requires collaborative multi-agency and cross-sectoral approaches, in Canada and beyond.
This requires deepening collaborations and information sharing protocols between partners including environmental, policing, financial, customs and organized crime agencies – and recognition that wildlife trafficking is as much an economic crime and security issue as an environmental one.
When wildlife trafficking intersects with drug and arms trade, it reinforces the same criminal networks that destabilize communities, laundering dirty money, spreading corruption, eroding governance and weakening the rule of law.
Stronger penalties, better co-operation and the use of anti-money laundering approaches could significantly improve efforts. Public awareness is also key: illegal wildlife purchases, increasingly via online and social media platforms, represent not only environmental harm, but also link consumers to a criminal economy most would likely want nothing to with.
Unfortunately, the illegal wildlife trade is still one of the most lucrative of all illegal trades. The World Bank estimates that illegal logging, fishing and wildlife trade result in economic losses amounting to trillions of dollars annually. The immense profits are siphoned off by organized crime networks and corrupt officials, instead of supporting conservation and sustainable development.
Moreover, when wildlife trafficking intersects with drug and arms trade, it reinforces the same criminal networks that destabilize communities, laundering dirty money, spreading corruption, eroding governance and weakening the rule of law.
Ultimately, by treating wildlife trafficking as a complex form of organized crime, Canada can help dismantle the networks that profit from exploiting both people and the planet.
This article first appeared on The Conversation, and is republished under a Creative Commons Licence; you can read the original here.
About the Authors
Dr Michelle Anagnostou is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford, researching how to better leverage anti-money laundering interventions to tackle illegal wildlife trade. Collaborating with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, Michelle has conducted fieldwork on illegal wildlife trade in Uganda, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Canada. Michelle is also a Research Consultant and Project Lead with WWF and National Cargo Bureau on the development of an AI solution to screen bookings and shipping documentation for mis-declared or undeclared wildlife products in maritime supply chains.
Ashwell Glasson is the University Registrar and an award-winning environmental governance champion at the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC). Leading academic policy development, their work focuses on advancing conservation education and empowering conservation, security, and paramilitary professionals. With over eight years at SAWC, Ashwell specialises in capacity-building and developing strategies to combat wildlife crime, particularly addressing the rising threat of parks imperilled by environmental crime groups, insurgencies and terrorism. He is pursuing a PhD in Military Science at the Stellenbosch University.
Dr Brent Doberstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. Brent has been engaged in hazards, disaster recovery, and climate change adaptation teaching and research in Canada and abroad for over 20 years. He also has a focus on environmental management in developing countries, especially in South-East Asia.
Dr Peter Stoett is Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University. Peter’s main areas of research expertise include international relations and law, global environmental politics, and human rights; he is especially interested in critical perspectives on the many nuanced intersections between these themes. Current research focuses on biodiversity conservation policy, transnational environmental crime, marine pollution prevention, climate justice, and Canadian-American environmental relations. Peter has also worked extensively on genocide and war crimes prevention and punishment.
Picture © Milan Zygmunt / Shutterstock
