Wildlife: Is EU a traffickers' 'save haven'?

Photo: Orphan gorilla-baby - a vicitm of poachers. Courtesy Ofir Drori, LAGA Wildfare Law Enforcement NGO
By Anna van Densky, Brussels

MEPs, conservationists and activists have called for an urgent comprehensive action plan on the illegal trafficking of wildlife in the EU, including the creation of a Wildlife Crime Unit within Europol. The move, enforced by a grim report issued by the Born Free Foundation, was presented at European Parliament on 14 April during an exhibition that was followed by an international conference.

Nowadays, the EU is a transit hub and major market for illegal trade of wildlife products, including elephant tusks, bush meat and wild pets, representing a €17 billion annual criminal business that nourishes corruption, money laundering and endangers public health with tropical diseases such as Ebola. The EU institutions have up to now ignored the problem, which requires immediate action before the damage to human health and wildlife becomes irreversible.

The perpetrators of wildlife trade are powerful criminal syndicates identical to drugs and arms traffickers in terms of the organization and perils that they represent. Ofir Drori (pictured) – the founder and the director of The Last Great Ape (LAGA) organization, the unique African law-reinforcement structure devoted to wildlife protection, shared his thoughts with EU Reporter.

"Wildlife  trafficking is a multinational large-scale criminal business, involving thousands of people, operating in a very efficient scheme, using modern logistics and IT technologies, creating both demand and supply," he said. For example, elephant tusks trafficking involves hundreds of poachers and results in the delivery of 600 pieces worth five million US dollars every two months, with chronometric precision. In 20 years, one family of criminals destroyed 32,000 elephants in Africa, which represents 10% of the entire population. The criminal syndicate works like a clock – maintaining total control, investing in the distribution and status of the articles and ensuring the growth of demand."

"Wildlife and drug trafficking are similar. In many cases, the wildlife is linked to drugs, arms trafficking and art thieves," Drori added, referring to his experience of fighting the criminals. In modern political culture, the wildlife trafficking syndicates knows how to operate via a powerful lobby that is represented by multiple hunters' associations, in some cases such as in France, the hunters even form their own political party, promoting the tradition and introducing different opportunities for bloody sports in Africa, glorifying safaris as the ultimate status entertainment.

"Nowadays, Europeans can come to Africa to kill a leopard to bring back the trophy to the EU, with a legal permit, which in the majority of cases is obtained illegally, as a by-product of the corrupt system, where the rules can be bent for handsome compensation," Drori explained.

However, the criminals are arrested in Africa on a daily basis, while those Europeans, who are a part of the criminal syndicate, can get away with it. "The EU is a safe haven for wildlife gangsters, as the legislation is far too weak," Drori added – he regrets that the EU is seriously lacking in specialized organizational structures. Corruption has not even left the EU's police untouched – recently, a syndicate operating in rhino horns was exposed in the Czech Republic.

However, fighting the criminals remains a challenging and perilous task – the mega-profits in this lucrative business make the operators of criminal syndicates inventive and entrepreneurial in disguising their articles and providing necessary documents obtained through corrupt officials.

Used previously for traditional Yemen daggers and Chinese remedies, rhino horn has seen an explosion in demand due to artificially created interest in Vietnam, after a statement from a high official, who claimed he was cured of cancer by rhino-horn powder, was published. This statement led to the killing of more than a thousand rhinos in South Africa in 2014, compared with half a dozen in 2007. Applications from the Vietnamese to join safari hunting has grown geometrically.

The vogue for wild pets is no less lucrative, bringing its traders profits equalling dealing in cocaine – while a poacher of an African grey parrot gets a couple of dollars for a bird, they are sold in the EU for a thousand. These huge revenues are reinvested and continue to destroy wildlife at a galloping rate, robbing from the natural capital of African communities. On average, only one in 50 animals survives the transit and is sold as a pet, and two thirds of these die in six weeks.

At present, Drori is running nine projects combating wildlife trafficking in Africa, however the problem cannot be solved there alone. The EU needs stricter legislation, better law enforcement and co-ordinated monitoring. "While there are hundreds of arrested traffickers in Africa, European prosecution services have succeeded in bringing only a few to justice," he said. The free circulation of goods in Schengen countries represents many opportunities for traffickers – once they enter, they have many opportunities. Subsequently, the education of consumers is becoming paramount – EU citizens should know the risks that trafficking represents not only for African communities but also for their own health.

The consumption in European fancy restaurants of bush meat (apes, primates, gazelles, endangered species) from Ebola-stricken countries brings a high risk of an epidemic outbreak. "It is unbelievable that the bush meat African police do not touch without special gloves and masks is smuggled in tonnes to Europe to be served as a gastronomic delicacy, available in Paris, Brussels and other famous tourist destinations," said Drori, citing the urgency of legislative action by the EU Institutions. At present, the European Parliament's Conservatives and Liberals (ALDE) are engaged in enhancing the EU's co-ordinated response to end wildlife trafficking.

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