11.6 Million Wildlife Listings Blocked Online
A coalition of technology companies and NGOs has blocked 11.6 million online listings for the illegal trade in endangered wildlife.
The illegal wildlife trade on the internet is fuelled by demand for wildlife products such as ivory, rhinoceros horns, big cat pelts, as well as live pets.
11.6 Million Listings Blocked
The illegal trade in wildlife, both online and offline, decimates populations of wild species and contributes to the catastrophic loss of biodiversity worldwide.
Online technology companies of the International Coalition to End the Wildlife Trade on the Internet have so far removed or blocked over 11.6 million listings for endangered species and products made from them on their platforms. These included listings for live tigers, reptiles, primates and birds, as well as products made from body parts of elephants, pangolins and sea turtles.
Coalition Grows to 44 Companies
The coalition, established by IFAW, WWF and Traffic, has published a progress report. Since the coalition was founded in 2018, its membership has doubled from 21 companies to 44 in 2021.
«Since the publication of our last progress report 18 months ago in 2020, coalition companies have removed a further 8.3 million listings for prohibited wildlife», said Crawford Allan, Senior Director of TRAFFIC at the World Wildlife Fund.
«In Germany, we work together with coalition partners DeineTierwelt and Quoka», said Robert Kless, Head of IFAW Germany. «As a first step after joining the coalition, DeineTierwelt banned the trade of all protected species and recently decided to prohibit almost all exotic animal species — including unprotected ones. This is a great and courageous step for animals.»
Users can contribute to animal and species protection by consulting the coalition's guidelines to find out which species may be traded. They can also report suspicious listings directly on the respective company's platform as well as on the coalition's online reporting page.
