B. Transnational Criminal Organizations and Wildlife Trafficking
While wildlife trafficking was once a relatively disorganized “crime of opportunity committed by individuals or small groups,” it has recently attracted “international criminal cartels that are well structured, highly organized, and capable of illegally moving large commercial volumes of wildlife and wildlife products.” The IWT is now a global crisis that is threatening “wildlife, the world’s economy, and global security.” The insatiable demand for illegal wildlife products, the potential to make a lot of money, and the transnational nature of the trade have attracted TCOs that are looking to diversify their typical trafficking portfolios of drugs, people, and weapons.
Wildlife trafficking is a criminal enterprise with many moving parts. TCOs are rarely involved in the actual hunting or capturing of wildlife. Rather, those crimes are committed by “poor, often indigenous hunters and/or farmers who live within range of target animals’ habitats in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.” TCOs tend to enter the equation much later in the supply chain, usually controlling the smuggling and sale of the illegal wildlife to developed nations. For example, a “poacher in East Africa might only make $200 for an elephant, while the profits for the criminals further along the chain increase exponentially as they get closer to the buyer.” A kilogram of rhino horn, for example, can sell for between $65,000 and $70,000 in the black market. It is thus unsurprising that TCOs are attracted to the illegal wildlife trade.
Drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), which are a subgroup of TCOs, play an essential role in wildlife trafficking. DTOs have entered this criminal enterprise due to their already established transnational logistical capabilities and the relatively low risk associated with the trade. Specifically, “[w]ildlife traffickers often face mere fines for illicit activities. They also face less scrutiny. And cartels have the money to break into and take control of the business.” DTOs will often capitalize on their already-existing drug and human smuggling routes, adding illegal wildlife to the mix as a subsidiary trade to maximize profits and their use of their routes.
Not only are DTOs involved in the IWT as purchasers, traffickers, and smugglers of exotic animals, but they also use the IWT as a way to launder other illegal proceeds, and as a vehicle for drug smuggling. First, members of drug cartels often purchase exotic pets. Leaders of DTOs have an affinity toward “charismatic animals that symbolize power and strength . . . such as lions, tigers. . . big snakes, monkeys and nice-looking birds.” These types of animals are often found in residences of the higher-ranking cartel members and law enforcement tends to struggle with what to do with these animals when the cartel members are captured or killed.