Illegal Wildlife Trade and Diseases Flashcards

Flashcards about Illegal wildlife trade and diseases

Crimes against wildlife

Illegal taking/poaching, possessing, trading, shipping or moving, and inflicting cruelty or persecution of wildlife in breach of these laws.

Major activity investigated by wildlife forensics

Illegal shooting/hunting, trapping, or capture of game or fish from areas where these practices are not permitted.

Estimated global value of the illegal wildlife trade

US$7-23 billion in 2016.

Main purposes for wildlife trafficking

Tourist souvenirs, traditional medicine, bushmeat, and live animals for pets.

Reasons for people getting involved in illegal wildlife trade

Poverty, subsistence, limited socioeconomic alternatives, flexible protection laws, and government corruption.

Key actors involved in the IWT market chain

Consumers, vendors, manufacturers, syndicates, poachers, and runners.

CITES

Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species.

CITES Appendix I

Species threatened with extinction; trade is allowed only in exceptional circumstances.

CITES Appendix II

Species are vulnerable, and trade must be controlled to ensure their survival.

CITES Appendix III

Species are protected in at least one country, which has asked CITES for assistance in controlling trade.

International trafficking volume of pangolins and their parts

20 tonnes per year.

Main hotspots for pangolin trafficking

Vietnam, mainland China, and Hong Kong.

Uses for African rhino horns

Beads, bracelets, bangles and cure for cancer.

Primary consumer markets for African rhino horns

Vietnam and China.

Percentage of African elephants killed

90% in the last 100 years.

Reason for hunting Malayan Sun bears

Traditional medicines (bear bile).

Main export countries of Australian illegal wildlife

The USA, Europe, and Japan.

Most illegal trade is in

Tourist souvenirs, bushmeat, and traditional medicine; live animals.

Why seized animals are often euthanised in Australia

They pose a biosecurity risk and place of origin is often unknown.

The reason Australia has some of the strictest biosecurity laws

To protect its native flora and fauna.

Disease and illegal trading

Animals can live with pathogens without disease symptoms, which may cause disease in humans.

Impacts of IWT

Welfare and existence of animals, spread of zoonotic pathogens and diseases, and introduction of exotic animal species.

Causes of disease transmission

Changes in natural landscapes/deforestation/ habitat loss as well as IWT.

Genetics help us understand the

Ecology, emergence and pathogenesis of diseases.

Factors affecting pathogen evolution

Host-pathogen relationship, vector-pathogen relationship, mutation and recombination, and migration