Global wildlife trafficking busts expose illegal internet sales in U.S. & Southeast Asia
July 2013. Scores of wildlife traffickers face federal and state charges for selling protected species online last summer. The announcement follows a coordinated undercover law enforcement operation led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and involving officers from 16 States, three Federal agencies, and three Asian countries.
Tiger skins and live birds being traded
Operation Wild Web resulted in 154 "buy/busts" in the United States: 30 involving Federal wildlife crimes and 124 for violations of State wildlife laws. It also exposed online trafficking of live birds and tiger and leopard pelts in Southeast Asia, where enforcement agency participation was coordinated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN)
"Our message is clear and simple: The internet is not an open marketplace for protected species," said Edward Grace, the Service's Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement. "State partners and our ASEAN-WEN counterparts were essential to the success of this operation, and that cooperation remains critical to disrupting wildlife trafficking on the Web and elsewhere."
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