From bear paw soup to pangolin scales, people can now report suspected illegal wildlife trade in South-East Asia using a smartphone app developed by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia in partnership with TRAFFIC. The ‘Wildlife Witness’ app enables users to report suspected illegal wildlife in trade in the region easily and quickly by taking a photo, pinning the exact location of an incident and sending these important details to TRAFFIC.Reports by app users will be analysed by a Wildlife Crime Data Analyst and over time, the information will help build data and enrich understanding of illegal wildlife trade across the region, help prioritise response action and highlight areas in need of increased enforcement resources. Wildlife Witness will also feature information o...
Read MoreTag: Poaching
The World Wildlife Fund said recently that at least 19 Siberian (Amur) tigers were killed by poachers in Russia since 2012. Body parts and skeletons of 19 dead tigers were discovered during seven criminal investigations by Russian authorities.There are only several hundred Amur tigers remaining in the wild, and most live in Russia’s Far East. Habitat destruction from logging and some development has reduced their historic range. Additionally, human activities such as poaching have contributed to their status as critically endangered. Poaching is driven by demand for tiger bones and other body parts for use in Chinese ‘medicine’ which is sometimes nothing more than superstition. In other words, consuming tiger parts has never been scientifically proven to have any medical benefits whatsoev
Read More