Abstract
Poaching is the most direct threat to the persistence of Amur tigers. However, little empirical evidence exists about the modus operandi of the offenders associated with this wildlife crime. Crime science can aid conservation efforts by identifying the patterns and opportunity structures that facilitate poaching. By employing semi-structured interviews and participants observation with those directly involved in the poaching and trafficking of Amur tigers in the Russian Far East (RFE), this article utilizes crime script analysis to break down this criminal event into a process of sequential acts. By using this framework, it is possible account for the decisions made and actions taken by offenders before, during and after a tiger poaching event, with the goal of identifying weak points in the chain of actions to develop targeted intervention strategies. Findings indicate poaching is facilitated by the ability to acquire a firearm, presence of roads that enable access to remote forest regions, availability of specific types of tools/equipment, including heat vision googles or a spotlight and a 4 × 4 car, and a culture that fosters corruption. This crime script analysis elucidates possible intervention points, which are discussed alongside each step in the poaching process.
Highlights
Wildlife crime, including the poaching of and the illegal trade in wildlife, can manifest in many forms
Treadwell (2019) emphasizes that criminological ethnography should be premised on its capacity to not just study people but to study their social-cultural contexts and the associated meanings embedded within these systems; it is not possible to dislocate the cultural structures that the individual resides within
This study demonstrated the value of having defined goals and specific indicators of success and noted clear increases in patrol effort and a partial reduction in threats to tigers at the select sites
Summary
Wildlife crime, including the poaching of and the illegal trade in wildlife, can manifest in many forms. Due to conservation biology’s emphasis on protecting biodiversity, much of the empirical research that addresses wildlife crime derives from this field (Kareiva & Marvier, 2012; Kurland et al, 2017). Criminological theories and methods can aid conservation efforts to address wildlife crime by approaching and analyzing these crimes in a way analogous to traditional forms of crime—i.e. identifying the characteristics of where, when and why a specific target is selected and how the crime commission process unfolds (Kurland et al, 2017). Criminologists, engaged with identifying and assessing crime risk to detect patterns and the opportunity structures involved in crime commission, can contribute to informing prevention measures to deter wildlife crime (Kurland and Pires, 2017)
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