Why Is Wildlife Traded?

Animal and plant species are traded for a huge variety of reasons: for pets, trophies and ornaments, clothing, furniture, food and medicines. The result of the trade to supply burgeoning demand for these products is shocking:

• Black rhino populations fell from 60,000 in 1970 to 2,500 in 1990 as poachers targeted their horns.


• African elephant numbers fell from 1,200,000 in 1970 to 600,000 in 1989 as a result of the trade in ivory.


• The Spix macaw is believed to be extinct in the wild. Most of the last individuals were trapped illegally for collectors.


• World sturgeon catches for caviar declined from nearly 28,000 to 8,140 tons between 1982 and 1994.


• An estimated 100 million sharks, skates and rays are caught every year.


• There may be fewer than 5,000 tigers surviving in the wild.


• Hawksbill and other marine turtles are slaughtered for their shell and for meat that is used in soup.

Despite national and international laws designed to regulate or eradicate the trade in some species, illegal traders swiftly adapt to changes and find new ways to trade, shifting to new species or markets, and discovering alternative smuggling methods and routes to avoid detection. A lack of resources and political will in many countries, when combined with increasing consumer demand and high black-market prices for rare species has resulted in the proliferation of poaching and illegal trade across the globe.

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement that aims to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival as species in the wild. CITES offers varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, according to a listing procedure agreed by governments at regular meetings.