Wildlife is coveted across the globe for use in traditional medicine, as pets, food, ornaments, jewellery, furniture, artwork, hunting trophies, cultural heritage and for investment purposes.

Demand for wildlife goods relates to multiple factors including the association of wildlife (particularly high-cost goods like ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts) with wealth, elevated social status, purity, beauty and tradition.

Consumption of wild animals demonstrates wealth because they are expensive, and demand increases along with species’ rarity and price (Gao and Clark, 2014 ). As average incomes in demand countries in Asia continue to grow, this will inevitably increase demand for rare wildlife.

Wild animal viewing for commercial purposes is an increasing driver of demand. In China, for example, demand for wild animal exhibits and products has increased substantially in the last decade, with some parks reporting 40-60 percent increases in attendance. This is fuelling increased demand for live wild animal exports, including highly protected species such as African elephants and rhinos. In addition, some large animal park operators in China plan to build marine parks and aquariums in other countries as part of China’s new Belt and Road trade initiative. A similar situation is seen in the Amazon, where tourist attractions sometimes use wild animals to earn cash from tourists visiting the jungle (Daly, 2017).

Globalisation facilitates the easy movement of wildlife products, money, people and information. It allows criminals to use the same IT, finance, storage, transport and retail infrastructures as legitimate companies. These factors further drive demand and enable the illegal trade, in what some scholars have labelled the “dark” side of globalisation (Shelley, 2018).