Connections between trades and trafficking in wildlife and drugs

Daan van Uhm,Tanya Wyatt,Nigel South

doi:10.1007/s12117-021-09416-z

Daan van Uhm, Tanya Wyatt + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-021-09416-z

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Abstract

Whilst drug trafficking has been a concern for several decades, wildlife trafficking has only fairly recently garnered international attention. Often media coverage of wildlife trafficking links it to the illegal trade of drugs. This article analyses wildlife and drug trafficking connections of various kinds. The purpose is to reveal the overlaps and synergies of wildlife and drug trafficking, providing concrete examples of where these markets co-exist as well as intertwine based on literature and original fieldwork. It explores the question of ‘Why in some cases, an illicit market remains focused on a single commodity, whilst in others it accommodates a combination of illicit commodities?’ This study identifies different types of wildlife-drugs linkages, including combined contraband, camouflage, multiple trade lines, shared smuggling routes and transportation methods, barter trade, and laundering drug money. The article shows that illicit markets are complex and the examples of activities and transactions that are provided illuminate some of the different dimensions of converging and diverging trades involving wildlife and drugs.

Highlights

It is not uncommon for media coverage and policy discussions about the illegal wildlife trade to mention that it is linked to other forms of criminality, drug trafficking (South and Wyatt 2011)
We explore the question ‘Why - in some cases - an illicit market remains focused on a single commodity, whilst in others it accommodates a combination of illicit commodities?’ One answer, as suggested by Reuter and O’Regan (2017) in their study of participants involved in ‘wildlife trafficking into the United States from elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere’ is that some individuals or small organisations are engaging with quite ‘distinct specialised markets’
The most telling illustration of this is found in work by commentators, when they report the numerous ways in which varieties of wildlife – whether reptiles, birds, fish, mammals or timber - provide concealment for drugs, but fail to note and explore what this reductionist utilisation and/or commodification of wildlife means or why this is important as an issue related to the intrinsic value of wildlife

Summary

Introduction

It is not uncommon for media coverage and policy discussions about the illegal wildlife trade to mention that it is linked to other forms of criminality, drug trafficking (South and Wyatt 2011). The most telling illustration of this is found in work by commentators (whether supportive of, or sceptical about, a proposition that there is any convergence between the trades and markets), when they report the numerous ways in which varieties of wildlife – whether reptiles, birds, fish, mammals or timber - provide concealment for drugs, but fail to note and explore what this reductionist utilisation and/or commodification of wildlife means or why this is important as an issue related to the intrinsic value of wildlife. As the authors note ‘This is not a case of smuggling wildlife and drugs, but rather using the cover of legal wildlife imports as a method for concealing drugs’ (emphasis added). This does not note the further important point that this is a case of animal abuse in which these reptiles are reduced to the status of being ‘containers’ for smuggling

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