Black Market Wildlife Trade In South Africa

It is true that our wildlife is under attack. Every day, on average, 2 of our Rhino are killed for the illicit rhino horn trade in Asia. A few years ago elephant tusks where under siege and now it has been brought to light that our smaller animals are just as threatened as our larger ones.

The wildlife trade is very lucrative, making billions of US dollars a year. Often in the places that the animals are taken from, people living in poverty stricken areas harvest the animals and are paid a tiny fraction of what these animals are then sold for. The kingpins of these organisations sell the animals for thousands of dollars making a huge profit for themselves.

Due to the fact that trading is illegal, animal numbers cannot be monitored and often the exact amount of animals that are taken out of their habitat cannot be measured. It has a disastrous effect on animal populations and often the extent of the damage is only noticed when numbers are dangerously low and very often it ends up in a huge need for conservation or complete extinction of the animal species.

For more information on the wildlife trade click here