Wild Life Trafficking

Trafficking is a form of smuggling that has a long history throughout the world. Just like any trade, the forms of trafficking differ as to what is needed in the market. Examples of trafficking and smugglings include: drugs, weapons, alcohol, tobacco, women, children and all forms of wildlife (animals and plants). Wildlife trafficking is a serious threat to the environment. Animals, for example, are usually stolen from their natural habitat and sold in the black markets for large sums of money. Removing animals and/or plants from their natural habitat affects the ecosystem, ruins the food chain and risks driving those animals and plants towards extinction (FREELAND,2010).

The wildlife trade is driven by the demand of the consumers. To the traffickers, receiving huge amounts of money for providing a commodity that does not cost them much is a very tempting offer for them, especially for those in desperate need of money. Hence, traffickers tend to hire workers to do the hunting and this is accomplished with the help of organized groups. Those groups specialize in exploiting and trading wildlife creatures (eia-international,2011). In addition, the big organized groups tend to target deprived people of very poor areas, such as people from remote villages. The targeted village people are typically illiterate, thus un-aware of the real price for the hunt or its effect in the ecosystem. Furthermore, some organized groups take over the villages and hold hostages to force the men to work for them. Hunting the animals could get a little dangerous; the hunters tend to hunt at night to escape the eyes of the law. The risk is higher if the creatures are dangerous, huge or even poisonous but the money is not necessarily as high. This trade i...

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.... Actions such as trading and trafficking animals have horrid results on the environment we live in, whether it was moving the animals or killing them. Therefore, the countries should join hand-in-hand to stop these actions and enlighten the buyers to the dangers of showing any encouragement to wildlife exploitation. For the effects of wildlife trafficking or any means to breach the environmental balance can never be erased or fixed as time passes by.

Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_trade#Illegal_wildlife_trade

http://www.eia-international.org/?s=wildlife+trafficking&x=0&y=0

http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/animals-wildlife/

http://www.freeland.org/eng/wildlife-trafficking/wildlife-trafficking-problem

http://www.ifaw.org/in/our-work/fighting-wildlife-trade

http://www.freeland.org/eng/wildlife-trafficking/what-we-do/arrest