CITES CoP19 | WCS and its investigations into the online trade in jaguar parts show a spreading threat

CITES CoP19 | WCS and its investigations into the online trade in jaguar parts show a spreading threat

November 21, 2022 09:26

A study carried out by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) on 31 freely accessible online platforms in seven languages ​​detected 230 posts with possible jaguar parts for sale. The tusks together with the skins are the most detected constituent elements.


PANAMÁ CITY, PANAMÁ | NOVEMBER 10, 2022


 
WCS researchers announced the results of an international investigation showing how online trade in jaguar parts is openly traceable across multiple online platforms, posing a serious and emerging threat to jaguar populations across the range of jaguars. this icon of Latin American wildlife.


The results were published in detail on bioRxiv, and summarized in a short publication available in Chinese, English, Spanish, and Portuguese. This announcement comes as the countries will meet in Panama City (Panama) as part of the  19ª Conferencia de las Partes de la Convención sobre el Comercio Internacional de Especies Amenazadas de Fauna y Flora Silvestres (CoP19 CITES ), from 14 to 25 of November. 


CITES CoP19 will be important for jaguars for several reasons.

Among the draft decisions that the parties are expected to adopt during the session is one that suggests considering the jaguar as a priority species in law enforcement operations, measures and controls deployed to deal with crimes against life. wild. This study and the methods it has developed can help implement that decision. Another draft decision encourages the parties to adopt comprehensive legislation aimed at eliminating poaching of jaguars and the illegal trade in their parts and derivatives, including the sale of specimens online. Implementation of that decision can be facilitated by consulting the comprehensive review of national jaguar protection laws published by WCS in the International Journal of Wildlife Law and Policy.


Two side events on jaguar conservation will take place during CITES CoP19. The first will be carried out by the Coordinating Committee of theJaguar 2030 Roadmap for the Americas (which includes UNDP, UNEP, Panthera, WWF and WCS, CITES and the Convention on Migratory Species - CMS), and will focus in jaguars as iconic indicators of biodiversity. The second event, organized by WCS, will present an overview of the threat posed by trade in jaguar parts and the use of tools such as online research to combat such threats.


The range of the jaguar (Panthera onca) has been reduced by almost 50% during the last century. However, a combination of protected area commitments by Latin American governments, coupled with the CITES ban on trade in spotted cats in 1975, has contributed to the recovery of some strategically important populations in the area. distribution of this species, which would otherwise be in decline. However, in the last decade there has been growing concern that new levels (or previously undetected levels) of illegal domestic and international trade in jaguar parts could undo the progress that has been made.

 

The present study involved 23 WCS researchers who, using standardized search terms and methodologies, conducted research on 31 online platforms, including online marketplaces, video sharing sites, social media, and weblogs, in 7 different languages ​​(Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, Chinese and Vietnamese).


The results revealed that between 2009 and 2019 trade in jaguar parts was overtly detectable and was particularly concentrated in jaguar fangs. A total of 230 posts were found with possible jaguar parts for sale, in more than a dozen body part categories. A detailed review of the images revealed that at least 71 posts contained images of different jaguar parts, on 12 different platforms and in four languages ​​(50.7% of posts in Spanish, 25.4% in Portuguese, 22, 5% in Chinese and 1.4% in French), including a total of 125 jaguar parts. Tusks were by far the most detected body part, with 156 publications offering at least 367 teeth, 95 of which they were accompanied by expertly visually verified images such as jaguar teeth, and Mexico (19), China (18), Bolivia (12) and Brazil (9) were the top countries offering visually verified jaguar teeth for sale. Jaguar skins were the second most traded parts and included publications linked to South America.

 

 

This research presents a snapshot of the online trade in jaguars and the methods that may be useful for many species now being traded online. The study is part of a long-term project to support law enforcement in host countries to better identify illegal trade online, and the research results will serve as a basis for centers in Latin America to strengthen such capacity.

Lead author of the study, Dr. John Polisar, stated: “Our team is pleased to share this study in the hope that it will bolster efforts to disrupt the currently widespread illegal trade in jaguar parts. The standardized methodology we have developed has already been productively applied to document visible online trade and combat wildlife trafficking across multiple and diverse taxa in the region.”


In addition, the report provides another tool that authorities in jaguar range countries can apply to combat illegal wildlife trade. These methods and results complement international cooperative efforts for jaguar conservation, such as the Jaguar Roadmap 2030 initiative and CITES, in unified multinational efforts to effectively advance jaguar conservation.


WCS maintains its commitment to jaguars through a set of strategically located, globally important, large conservation landscapes that contribute to the conservation of this cat throughout its range.


Dr Rob Wallace, WCS Principal Conservation Scientist and one of the co-authors of the study, remarked: “WCS remains committed to landscape-scale conservation, which is critical for naturally rare and far-reaching apex predators such as jaguars. . While on-the-ground conservation efforts with a plethora and diverse range of legitimate local stakeholders in these global strongholds remains our primary focus, WCS is proud to provide additional technical assistance to governments in the region on the enormous and dynamic challenge of address the illegal trade of extremely vulnerable species in the region, including, and especially, the jaguar.”


The online study on the illegal trade in jaguars was supported primarily by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wildlife Conservation Society. In addition, WCS's broader efforts to combat wildlife trafficking in Latin America are also supported by the European Union, the Department of the Environment's Darwin Initiative Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom, and the Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the Department of State of the United States.

The study authors include: John Polisar 1,2, Charlotte Davies 3, Thais Morcatty 4,5, Mariana Da Silva 6, Song Zhang 7, Kurt Duchez 8, Julio Madrid 8, Ana Elisa Lambert 9, 10, Ana Gallegos 11, Marcela Delgado 12, Ha Nguyen 13, Robert Wallace 6, Melissa Arias 14, 15, Vincent Nijman 4, Jon Ramnarace 16, Roberta Pennell 16, Yamira Novelo 16, Damian Rumiz 17, Kathia Rivero 17, Yovana Murillo 11, Monica Nuñez Salas 18,19, Heidi E. Kretser 20,21, Adrian Reuter 22


1 Wildlife Conservation Society, Jaguar Conservation Program, Bronx, New York, USA
2 Department of Environment and Development, Zamorano Biodiversity Center, Zamorano University, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
3 Wildlife Conservation Society, Counter Wildlife Trafficking Program (Global)
4 Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom
5 RedeFauna – Rede de Pesquisa em Diversidade, Conservação e Uso da Fauna da Amazônia, Brazil 
6 Wildlife Conservation Society, Bolivia Program, La Paz, Bolivia
7 Xianda College of Economics and Humanities, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai
8 Wildlife Conservation Society, Guatemala Program, Flores, Guatemala
9 Wildlife Conservation Society, Latin America Illegal Wildlife Trade Program, Lima, Peru
10 School of Environment, Education, and Development, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
11 Wildlife Conservation Society, Peru Program, Lima, Peru
12 Wildlife Conservation Society, Colombia Program, Cali, Colombia
13 Wildlife Conservation Society, Vietnam Program, Vietnam
14 WWF Amazon Coordination Unit, Quito, Ecuador
15 Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, Oxford-Martin Programme on Illegal Wildlife Trade, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
16 Wildlife Conservation Society, Belize Program, Belize City, Belize
17 Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
18 Universidad del Pacífico, Lima, Perú
19 Department of Geography, Environment, and Society, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
20 Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, Bronx,New York, USA
21 Cornell University, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Ithaca, New York, USA
22 Wildlife Conservation Society, Latin America Illegal Wildlife Trade Program, Mexico City, Mexico


For more information on WCS efforts at CITES CoP19: www.wcs.org/cites

 

Resumen de investigación multilingüe y multiplataforma del comercio en línea de partes de jaguar

Download in Spanish

Here
Summary of multi-lingual multi-platform investigations of online trade in jaguar parts

Download in English

Here
Resumo das investigaçoes multiplataforma multilíngues do comércio online de partes de onça-pintada

Download in Portuguese

Here

Press contacts:


Mary Dixon, mdixon@wcs.org, +1 (347) 840-1242

To review the original note, follow the link.
#JuntosPorLaVidaSilvestre

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