Tanya Wyatt

Comparing illicit trades in wildlife and drugs: An exploratory study

This article is an exploratory study into the similarities, differences, and overlaps between the illegal wildlife trade and the illegal drug trade, using original and literature-based research from the Russian Far East and Western Europe, respectively. The purpose of such a comparison is to gain further insight into the illegal wildlife trade through the examination of the more thoroughly studied illegal drug trade. We first examine the global size of these markets and then detail and compare actors and smuggling operations found in each. This leads to a possible typology of features that the trades have in common and to discussion of the direct linkages between these two illicit markets.

The illegal trade of raptors in the Russian Federation

Wildlife trafficking, along with other green crimes, receives little attention from the criminological community. This study provides further knowledge of this black market, and exposes the structural harms that are associated with it, by examining the illegal trade in falcons in Russian Far East. The structural harms proposed here are that wildlife trafficking, and the illegal raptor trade in particular endangers the environment, is cruel to animals, and threatens national and human security because of its connection to other dangerous illicit activities. Through semi‐structured interviews, trade statistics, and online news sources, a framework is developed as to who is involved, how it is occurring, and where it is taking place as well as possible ways in which to curb this activity.

Non-human animal abuse and wildlife trade: Harm in the fur and falcon trades

AbstractUntil recently, the field of criminology has largely ignored the suffering and abuse of non-human animals in the variety of forms in which it occurs. In order to address one aspect of this suffering, this article explores the non-human animal abuse inherent in the trade of wildlife. To demonstrate both the individual harm to non-human animals and the institutionalized abuse in this market, the fur and falcon trades will be detailed. First, since non-human animal abuse and harm have been largely invisible to the criminological community, this article sets out one justification for the adoption of a harm-based discourse. The result is examination of the these two forms of wildlife trade from an animal rights and species justice perspective of harm that is now one of the three broad conceptions of justice in the rapidly growing field of green criminology.

International Trade in Animals and Animal Parts

This chapter explores the abuse inflicted upon wildlife smuggled to fill the demand for the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), and the abuse that is inherent in the legal wildlife trade. It begins with an overview of the extent of both trades, focusing on the key regions of the world where these occur. The next section identifies the routine abuse, suffering and death experienced by animal victims within these trades. The authors argue that being captured, smuggled, possibly dying, or living a life in pain and/or confinement are all forms of animal abuse. Consequently, there is not a single case of wildlife trade where an animal does not suffer in some fashion. The chapter then explores the motivations for engaging in the wildlife trade, using two criminological theories to help explain offender’s behaviour in the illegal trade. This is followed by an evaluation of current responses to illegal wildlife trade, with a particular focus on the official UK response. The current response is limited, partly due to existing loopholes in regulations and limitations in the political, enforcement and judicial responses but also, and perhaps more importantly, by our inability to reduce demand and prevent the killing/capture in the first place.

The Geography of Environmental Crime

In the twenty-first century, environmental harm is an ever-present reality of our globalised world. Over the last 20 years, criminologists have made great strides in their understanding of how different institutions in society, and criminal justice systems in particular, respond (or fail to respond) to the harm imposed on ecosystems and their human and non-human components. Such research has crystallised into the rapidly evolving field of green criminology.

The Brownness of Green Crimes and Harms

Criminology has awoken to the plight of the environment with the growing field of green criminology. This is evident with the increase in scholarship dedicated to uncovering the green crimes and harms that injure people, other species and the planet. The crimes against the environment are varied and extensive. White (2008) proposed that these can be categorised into three groupings: white, green and brown. White issues are those pertaining to scientific concerns and the impact of new technologies, such as genetically modified organisms. Green issues are related to wilderness and conservation, for instance, hunting and logging practices. Finally, brown issues, the sole focus of this collection, centres on pollution and other consequences of urban and industrial life. White included air pollution, pollution of urban stormwater, beaches, pesticides, oil spills, water catchment and disposal of toxic and hazardous waste as the types of crimes and harms that are ‘brown’. This book is a unique collection focussed exclusively on the latter. Hazardous waste and pollution take on numerous forms, have various causes and impact tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. Whilst causing a significant amount of injury and suffering, criminalisation and regulation of such actions are contentious at the same time that green efforts (grey water capture, etc.) are prohibited. This collection of chapters, which were papers presented at the Economic and Social Research Council and Northumbria University-funded conference on Brown Crime, explores the dynamics of conceptualisation, control and regulation of brown crimes and those brown harms outside the criminal justice system.

The Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking

The illegal wildlife trade is nestled between law enforcement, non-human animal welfare and environmental protection. This unique position means that there are multiple stakeholders determining the ways in which wildlife trafficking can be combatted. Whilst all are well-meaning, different kinds of organisations have different missions, so this diverse array of stakeholders may have approaches that come into conflict with one another. This chapter presents the agendas that collide when compromise must be reached between policing, conservation and the economy in relation to wildlife trafficking.

From the Cardamom Mountains of Southwest Cambodia to the forests of the world: an exploration of the illegal charcoal trade

The illegal charcoal trade is a green crime that devastates the environment, but as with other crimes against nature also has not been thoroughly examined by the criminological community. The legal and illegal production and use of charcoal takes place around the world. It is a source of fuel for cooking and heating that many rural and urban people are dependent upon, but when done so unsustainably and illegally contributes to deforestation, desertification, and climate change as well as to the destruction of habitats of endangered species and other wildlife. Using the data gathered from an ongoing cooperative effort between the non-governmental organization, Wildlife Alliance, and the Royal Cambodian Forestry Administration to stop the illegal charcoal trade, and the literature about other charcoal producing nations, this article provides evidence of consequences to the environment and people if this black market trade is not diminished and introduces to the criminological agenda the green crime of the illegal charcoal trade.

Green Harms and Crimes in Mexico

The first chapter sets the scene as to how this collection of essays was brought about. It also provides background information about the state of knowledge of the environment in general and green crime in particular in Mexico. The 14 authors featured in this volume participated in an intensive short-course on green criminology, and this introductory chapter summarizes their overriding concerns (and those in Mexico in general). It outlines four common themes running through the chapters: environmental justice, crimes of the powerful, corruption, and resistance and activism.

Victimless venison? Deer poaching and black market meat in the UK

Abstract The British Deer Society places the number of poached deer in the UK as high as 50,000 each year whereas only 335 incidents were reported to the police in 2009. This article explores deer as invisible victims of green crime and the motivations behind this poaching, drawing on the typologies of wildlife crime offenders developed by Nurse in 2013. In particular, the traditional profit-driven motivation of offenders is explored by attempting to uncover if there is, as suspected, a black market in venison. In order to do this, online questionnaires were sent to wildlife crime officers and gamekeepers asking questions about the scale and scope of deer poaching, who the perpetrators are and what is happening to the meat. From these data, it is hoped that a more detailed picture of deer poaching can be developed to further inform wildlife law and poaching prevention. This article also draws attention to the plight of poached deer and the potential danger to people of a black market in venison.