As President Obama has been pitching the Trans-Pacific Partnership to voters and elected officials, he has meet fierce resistance from some of his fellow Democrats. The trade deal, still in the process of being negotiated, involves at present 12 Asian countries and is meant to facilitate freer trade among them.… read more
Craigslist singled out in latest IFAW investigation
Informed by my career at eBay and as a student of the illegal wildlife trade, I have developed a keen interest in how wildlife traffickers use the internet to facilitate transactions. My last post, at least in small part, celebrated the decline of such sales on traditional e-commerce platforms in recent… read more
Wildlife trade shifting from e-commerce to social media
In a previous post several months ago, I discussed how e-commerce sites are a major conduit for the online trade of illegal wildlife products. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has been the foremost organization to monitor the online sale of wildlife products, and their 2014 report “Wanted–Dead or Alive” uncovered $11… read more
To Be or Not to Be: The ‘De-Extinction’ Debate
I’ll confess that, before this class, I wasn’t uniquely concerned about the illegal wildlife trade or the plight of endangered animals. As I researched the issue, however, the sheer gravity of the issue finally occurred to me. Particularly distressing for me was the prospect of species extinction—that my children may… read more
Reports uncover thousands of illegal wildlife products for sale online
According to a recent study by TRAFFIC (a joint project of the World Wildlife Fund and International Union for Conservation of Nature), the illegal ivory trade has increased 300% from 1998 to 2011. Much of that growth has doubtless been facilitated by the internet, owing to its convenience and historically weak… read more
The illegal wildlife trade gets the royal treatment
The campaign against wildlife trafficking has no dearth of celebrity support, and among its star-studded roster of activists is a member of royalty. Prince William visited the United States earlier this week on a several day, multi-event tour condemning the illegal wildlife trade. In his first visit to Washington on Monday, he… read more