Thousands of endangered species worth millions of pounds are bought and sold on the Internet, a shocking new report shows.
A six-week investigation by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) found 33,006 endangered wildlife, and wildlife parts and products for sale, worth a staggering £6.5 million, via 280 online market places across 16 countries.
In the UK, websites hosted 1,087 online advertisements offering a total of 1,603 items for sale including ivory and suspected ivory, turtles, tortoises, owls, exotic birds, monkeys and parts and products from elephants, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, alligators and big cats. The items were valued at more than £300,000. Over two-thirds of adverts were for wildlife parts and products rather than live animals.
The most popular site for sales was eBay with 674 ads, where one seller posted 58 ivory and suspected ivory items on the site during the six-week investigation.
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