Slow Loris, Victim of Organized Crime

Photo By: Elizabeth Bennett / Wildlife Conservation Society

The criminals responsible for profiting off the sale of endangered wildlife are increasingly well organized, while law enforcement lags, according to a new paper published in Oryx by Elizabeth Bennett, a scientists associated with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The species at risk include the slow loris, pictured here, as well as rhinos, tigers, elephants and many others. Whether they're caught and sold as pets, slaughtered for the pelts or sold off piece by piece for use in traditional medicine, species are at risk from this increasingly sophisticated trade, Bennett warns. The biggest threat comes from demand from East Asian markets.

"We are failing to conserve some of the world’s most beloved and charismatic species," writes Bennett. "We are rapidly losing big, spectacular animals to an entirely new type of trade driven by criminalized syndicates. It is deeply alarming, and the world is not yet taking it seriously. When these criminal networks wipe out wildlife, conservation loses, and local people lose the wildlife on which their livelihoods often depend."

Law enforcement needs to be as well-staffed and sophisticated as the criminals if the crime is to be stopped before some of these species are lost, she writes.

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