At every level, wildlife trading networks involve a wide range of actors, intersecting with other illicit networks including those trading in weapons, drugs, human beings and minerals (IFAW, 2008; Elliot, 2012). Some key risks related to the merging of legal and illegal value chains are highlighted below. For a deep dive into IWT supply chains and corruption in East and Southern Africa, see OECD (2018).

1. Poachers and poaching networks

Poaching networks vary in levels of organisation and can include local artisanal poachers, individuals, professional hunters, armed groups and large organised poaching networks. 

Poachers often act on the orders of dealers and brokers in urban areas, who order wildlife and sometimes supply poaching networks with arms, vehicles and other supplies. Other poachers work independently. 

Poaching networks often involve corrupt officials within parks and protected areas.

Where animals are collected for the pet trade, poachers may be specialists. Generally, poachers earn the least money of any actor in the illicit supply chain. 

Wildlife trading companies may hire poachers and wildlife collectors to provide specific numbers and types of wildlife including live animals such as lizards and birds, as well as animal products like snake and crocodile skins. 

Breeding and ranching facilities may depend on poaching networks to supply animals to breed or launder into the legal system as captive bred. For more details, see Part 2 of this publication series on illegality in the exotic pet trade.

2. Runners and brokers

At the next level, runners and brokers arrange for the onward sale of wildlife purchased from poaching gangs. These individuals typically operate in areas near where poaching occurs. They act as buffers between local poaching gangs and higher order criminals.

Local wildlife retailers, such as muthi (traditional medicine) or craft markets, may purchase wildlife from low-level brokers and runners.

3. Intermediaries and dealers

Laundering poached wildlife into the legal supply chain often occurs through intermediaries and dealers. These actors operate at the national level, consolidating wildlife to sell to other networks or to ship to markets.

Illegal trade networks involving live wild animals may include specialists to care for wildlife during this phase. These may include veterinarians, wildlife farms, ranches, breeding facilities and zoos.

Laundering wildlife into legal trading networks often occurs at the consolidation and processing stage. For species that have parallel legal and illegal trades, such as shark fins, poached species can be easily mixed in with legally acquired wildlife during this phase.

4. Exporters and importers

At the export/import level, the presence of organised crime groups becomes more apparent. At this level, traffickers utilise front companies and corrupt officials to arrange for the packaging, concealment and shipment of the wildlife products.

Specialist exporters devise complex methods to hide wildlife within legitimate shipments, such as shipping ivory in hollowed-out logs or pallets of wood, hiding illicit goods under frozen meats, or hiding goods within large consignments of nuts or plastic pellets. It is important that transport companies have access to up-to-date information about red flags for concealment, for example via United for Wildlife intelligence alerts (see Section 6).

Exporters/importers are generally based in urban areas near major international sea or air ports. Within the illegal pet trade, legitimate businesses within the wildlife trade sector are often present at the export/import level to provide a cover of legality for the illegal trade.

As experts in procuring documents for export and in shepherding species through transport systems, criminals active in legal wildlife industries are particularly prominent in the export and import phases. Basic due diligence checks therefore include whether the product and destination make sense commercially, and the value of goods declared to customs compared to the insurance value. 

Frequently, exporters and importers make multiple changes of routings, destinations and consignees in order to complicate attempts to trace the consignment.

5. Wholesale traders

Upon import, wholesalers arrange for the processing and/or onward sales of wildlife products to retailers. They regularly do this in the open: non-native species often receive no protections in import markets and can be openly traded, despite their illegal origins.

Legitimate wildlife trading companies are often involved at the wholesale and retail level, laundering wildlife into legal sales establishments, though large-scale illicit enterprises also exist where wildlife is illegally processed into goods and medicine (IFAW, 2008).

6. Retailers

Sales of wildlife occur online, in auctions, through jewellery, art and craft stores, at casinos and hotels in resort areas, and on the black market. Live animal retailers that often combine legal and illegal sales include pet stores, trade shows, individual dealers, online sales, medical research animal providers and zoos.

Criminal retailers often hide in plain sight, selling poached and trafficked wildlife in pet stores, jewellery stores, online platforms, and, after processing, as traditional Chinese medicine and other traditional remedies. Similarly, zoos and animal-viewing businesses display trafficked wildlife regularly.