1News can reveal that eBay, one of the biggest internet marketplaces on the planet, have blocked or removed more than 140,000 items this year that contain endangered wildlife.
But World Animal Protection, a global charity that aims to end the animal trade, says while some marketplaces are becoming more aware of the issue, much more needs to be done.
"They are a commercial platform, they can determine what is on their platform,” the World Animal Protection's Kelly Dent told 1News from Sydney.
This week, 1News was granted unprecedented access to the Department of Conservation (DOC) team at the New Zealand border that enforces wildlife trading regulations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
It protects 36,000 species of animals and plants – with various restrictions on international trade depending on how threatened they are.
Most trade in a product containing CITES-listed wildlife requires strict permits – otherwise the items are seized at the border, destroyed and, in some cases, the importers can be fined or prosecuted.
While there are some more shocking items discovered, it’s often things like medicine that catches people out. (Source: 1News)
DOC said it had seen a swell of seizures as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown online shopping boom.
“We've seen quite an increase over Covid as people haven't been able to go out and do traditional styles of shopping,” said DOC officer Clinton Turner.
World Animal Protection said big internet marketplaces have an important role to play in the disruption of the wildlife trade.
“Some of them are beginning to understand the issue – but they've got a long way to go," she said.
The animal trade in particular was worth billions of dollars a year, she said – and that was just what was known.
“Millions of animals are traded dead or alive every year.”
A quick glance at several big online marketplaces reveals products for sale containing CITES-listed wildlife, especially those on Appendix 2 – species that are often threatened but can be legally traded if it can be shown it was made sustainably.
But on some platforms, there was a lot of ambiguity. For example, 1News found a crocodile skull for sale on a large marketplace based in Asia that could be shipped to New Zealand. While the seller said the crocodile was “artificially farmed” and not taken from the wild, there was no proof of that – and that ambiguity, World Animal Protection says, is part of the problem.
1News’ Logan Church was given unprecedented access to the Department of Conservation CITES team, that works to help manage the trade of endangered animals and plants. (Source: 1News)
“I don't think they are doing enough,” she said.
1News approached eBay, the second largest online marketplace in the world, asking what it was doing to protect threatened wildlife.
Other than the 140,000 items blocked this year, a spokesperson said last year it had blocked 389,000 items – such as products made from elephants, pangolins, and tigers.
"Over the past five years, eBay has worked … to stop illegal wildlife trade through the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online," the spokesperson said.
“Through this partnership, eBay has revised prohibited content policies for wildlife, trained enforcement teams to better identify endangered species product, enhanced automation using key search terms for products like elephant ivory, educated users about the issue and how they can help, and shared knowledge with industry peers to amplify impact across online platforms."
But World Animal Protection says ultimately, the power is with the consumers.
“It’s about looking at things like ingredients, looking at the luxury goods [and asking] are they the skin of a crocodile or the fur of a wild animal, the feathers of a wild bird,” said Dent.
“And if they are, don't buy them.”
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