12/11/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/10/2024 23:09
Taking down these online listings is a critical step in disrupting this cycle of harm. By removing illegal wildlife content, we reduce visibility and demand, making it harder for traffickers to market their products. At the same time, we diminish traffickers' profits, limiting their ability to reinvest in more poaching and trafficking operations.
How are we achieving this?
The Coalition's efforts hinge on collaboration and innovation. To tackle the growing scale of online wildlife trafficking, we have:
These efforts ensure traffickers have fewer places to hide as we standardise wildlife policies and strengthen automated tools to identify illegal listings.
Biodiversity at risk
The illegal wildlife trade is the second greatest threat to biodiversity after habitat destruction, devastating not only the species listed for sale but entire ecosystems. For every animal trafficked, countless others may suffer or die-whether captured alongside the target species, discarded as "bycatch," or lost during transportation due to stress, injury, or neglect. In addition, traffickers often target the healthiest or most reproductively significant individuals, weakening wild populations and threatening their survival. The ripple effects extend far beyond the animals you see in online listings, destabilising ecosystems that rely on a delicate balance of species.
Yet, as wildlife trafficking moves increasingly online, platforms like search engines, e-commerce sites, and social media apps have become powerful allies in protecting wildlife.
How you can help
Stopping wildlife trafficking requires all of us to act. You can make a difference by reporting and encouraging others to report suspicious wildlife content-which can include live animals as well as bushmeat, bones, elephant ivory, rhino horn, and more-directly on apps and websites using their reporting features or via the Coalition's dedicated reporting page here.
By working together, we can ensure that wildlife remains #OfflineAndInTheWild, protected from the threats of the online trade. To learn more, check out the latest progress update or visit the Coalition's website and explore how your actions can help safeguard our planet's incredible biodiversity.