Trends in Illegal Wildlife Trade

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Rosemary Hitchens, Miami University; April Blakeslee, East Carolina University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
modifieddataset application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 217.4 KB 12/10/2019 01:34:PM
rawdataset application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 2.3 MB 12/10/2019 01:33:PM

Project Citation: 

Hitchens, Rosemary , and Blakeslee, April. Trends in Illegal Wildlife Trade . Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-12-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/E116621V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary The illegal import of wildlife and wildlife products is a growing concern, and the U.S. is one of the world’s leading countries in the consumption and transit of illegal wildlife and their derivatives. Yet, few U.S. studies have analyzed the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) on a national or local scale. Moreover, few studies have examined the trends associated with IWT moving through personal baggage. This work aimed to better understand the magnitude of illegal wildlife importation into U.S. ports of entry by determining trends associated with illegal wildlife products from personal baggage seizures in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). To identify the most influential factors in determining the numbers and types of personal baggage seizures into PNW, we analyzed 1,731 records between 1999 and 2016 from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS) database. We found five significant contributors: taxonomic Class of wildlife, categorical import date, wildlife product, source region, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) status. While wildlife seizures across taxonomic categories have decreased in the PNW since 2008, other findings provide a reason for concern. Three main findings of this study include:  (1) mammals make up the majority of seizures (2) temporal trends of wildlife seizures point to increases in seizures in many taxonomic groupings and (3) the majority of seizures originate from six regions, of which East Asia is the largest source. This work adds to the growing understanding of IWT through large-scale geographical seizure data using a highly important global port as our case study. 

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms illegal willdife trade; transnational crime; poaching; endangered species; wildlife enforcement; wildlife seizures
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Global, Pacific Northwest
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1996 – 2016
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 8/11/2016 – 10/6/2016
Universe:  View help for Universe All seized wildlife illegally entering four PNW ports between 1999 and 2016. 
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement (FWS-OLE), Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS), Obtained by the Freedom of Information Act, [Excel Dataset], 1996-2016.
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Seizures
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit Pacific Northwest Port of Entry

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V1 [2019-12-11]

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