Tuesday, March 3 is World Wildlife Day.
This year’s theme is ‘Get serious about
wildlife crime’.
The Species Survival Network urges
individuals from around the world to take
a stand against wildlife crime and
over-exploitation by taking a few small
steps:
1.
EDUCATE YOURSELF. Few people
realize how serious wildlife crime is in
our world today. While many consumers
might shun buying ivory, many commonly
available wildlife products, such as
python leather or exotic pets, may be
entering the market through illegal or
unsustainable means. We urge you to
educate yourself about the many ways
wildlife crime operates, and make sure
that you are not, unknowingly, a part of
it.
2. DON’T
BUY. Don’t buy wildlife or
wildlife products, including wild-caught
exotic pets, if you don’t know how they
were acquired. Don’t support industries
that exploit wildlife. Nobody needs luxury
wildlife products (fur, ivory, leathers,
caviar). Medicinal products made from
smuggled wild animals (tiger, pangolin,
rhino, snake, seahorse) are illegal in
many countries, risk wiping out rare
species, and probably don’t work anyway.
Luxury tropical timbers (mahogany, ebony,
rosewood) are the target of smugglers
around the world.
3. BE
INVOLVED. Work with local,
national and international organizations
to stop wildlife crime and protect
internationally traded wildlife from
over-exploitation. Get involved with an SSN
Member organization.
4. BE
REPRESENTED. Contact your
national wildlife authorities to ensure
that they are doing the best they can to
protect wildlife in trade, and to
implement and enforce CITES (Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora). Find out if your
native wildlife species legally enter
trade and, if so, whether the full
provisions of CITES are being implemented
to ensure that trade is both legal and
sustainable. Ensure that your views on
wildlife trade are represented by your
government at CITES meetings.
5.
REMEMBER: WILDLIFE CRIME IS REAL CRIME.
Illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife
products is the fourth-largest money
earner for organized crime in the world
today, after drugs, human trafficking,
arms shipments and illegal oil sales.
Wildlife crime provides terrorist
organizations with the money to buy
weapons. Tell anyone, and especially your
elected representatives, who thinks
wildlife crime is a small matter that they
had better think again.
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