Effects of legalization and wildlife farming on conservation

A review of commercial captive breeding of parrots as a supply-side intervention to address unsustainable trade

The volume and scale of commercial captive breeding of parrots have grown dramatically in recent decades. Although it has been proposed, and is often assumed, that captive breeding can reduce pressure on wild populations, there has been little scrutiny of the scale, viability, or impacts of captive breeding to prevent overexploitation among parrots, compared with similar approaches in other threatened taxa, such as pangolins or tigers. We reviewed the primary and gray literature to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate evidence concerning 5 criteria, established a priori, for commercial captive breeding of parrots as an effective supply-side intervention. We focused on a sample of 16 threatened parrot species that are heavily traded or for which unsustainable trade has been a factor in the decline of wild populations, representing a range of taxonomic groups, life histories, and native regions. We identified multiple major gaps in knowledge of the extent to which these criteria are met, including a lack of quantitative data on breeding productivity under current commercial breeding practices, the scale and scope of commercial breeding practices in growing parrot markets, particularly in the Middle East and Asia, and the lack of financial viability of captive breeding under effective regulation to prevent laundering or use of wild-sourced specimens as breeding stock. The capacity for captive breeding to displace demand for wild-sourced parrots varied between species, and complex interactions between trade in different species and contexts sometimes made consequences of commercial production difficult to predict. Decision makers and regulatory authorities should approach commercial captive breeding of parrots with caution and take into account knowledge gaps and cross-linkages between trade in different species to avoid unanticipated consequences from stimulating and facilitating unsustainable trade in wild-sourced parrots.

Turning the tide on big cat trade: Expert opinion on trends and conservation lessons from the Republic of Korea

Unsustainable trade in big cats affects all species in the genus, Panthera, and is one of the foremost threats to their conservation. To provide further insight into the impact of policy interventions intended to address this issue, we examine the case study of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), which in the early 1990s was one of the world's largest importers of tiger (Panthera tigris) bone and a major manufacturer of tiger-derived medicinal products. In 1993, South Korea became a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and introduced a ban on commercial trade in CITES Appendix I-listed big cats a year later. We used an expert-based questionnaire survey and an exploration of the CITES trade database to investigate what has since happened to big cat trade in South Korea. Expert opinion suggested that big cat trade has likely substantially reduced since the early 1990s, as a result of the trade ban and broad socioeconomic changes. However, illegal trade has not been eradicated entirely and we were able to confirm that products reportedly derived from big cats were still publicly available for sale on a range of Korean online marketplaces, sometimes openly. The items most commonly reported by respondents from post-1994 trade and supported by expert-led evidence were tiger and leopard (Panthera pardus) skins and tiger bone wine. Although South Korea may provide a useful case study of a historically significant consumer country for tiger which has made strong progress in addressing unsustainable levels of big cat trade within a short period of time, there remains a need to address recalcitrant small-scale, illegal trade. We also recommend further investigation regarding reports of South Korean nationals being involved in illegal trade in tiger-derived products in Southeast Asia.

Review: Wildlife forensic genetics-Biological evidence, DNA markers, analytical approaches, and challenges

Wildlife-related crimes are the second most prevalent lawbreaking offense globally. This illicit trade encompasses hunting, breeding and trafficking. Besides diminishing many species and their habitats and ecosystems, hindering the economic development of local communities that depend on them, undermining the rule of law and financing terrorism, various cross-species transmissions (zoonoses) of pathogens, including COVID-19, can be attributed to wildlife crimes. Wildlife forensics applies interdisciplinary scientific analyses to support law enforcement in investigating wildlife crimes. Its main objectives are to identify the taxonomic species in question, determine if a crime has been committed, link a suspect to the crime and support the conviction and prosecution of the perpetrator. This article reviews wildlife crime and its implications, wildlife forensic science investigation, common forms of wildlife biological evidence, including DNA, wildlife DNA techniques and challenges in wildlife forensic genetics. The article also reviews the contributions of genetic markers such as short tandem repeat (STR) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers, which provide the probative genetic data representing the bulk of DNA evidence for solving wildlife crime. This review provides an overview of wildlife DNA databases, which are critical for searching and matching forensic DNA profiles and sequences and establishing how frequent forensic DNA profiles and sequences are in a particular population or geographic region. As such, this review will contain an in-depth analysis of the current status of wildlife forensic genetics, and it will be of general interest to wildlife and conservation biologists, law enforcement officers, and academics interested in combating crimes against wildlife using animal forensic DNA methods.

Wildlife Consumption, Health, and Zoonotic Disease in China After the Emergence of COVID-19

There has been much discussion in the conservation and policy realms of COVID-19 as a zoonotic disease, or a disease transmitted from wildlife to humans. However, wildlife consumption in China is not only a potential source of disease but also a practice embedded in complex beliefs about health. This paper used survey data (N = 974) collected in China in June 2021 to examine attitudes and behaviors related to (a) wildlife consumption, (b) Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and (c) zoonotic risk after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. 40.1% of respondents self-reported that they are less likely to consume wild animals since the outbreak of COVID-19. Respondents who used wildlife supplements for TCM, who believed in the benefits of wild animal consumption and fresh slaughter of wildlife, and who had higher levels of agreement with the zoonotic origin of COVID-19 were more likely to report that they had decreased their wildlife consumption after the outbreak of COVID-19. Use of wildlife in TCM significantly increased the odds that a respondent believed that COVID-19 was very likely zoonotic. We discuss how situating wildlife consumption within complex beliefs about health and disease can assist with protecting wildlife and public health in the wake of COVID-19.

Perceptions of COVID-19 origins and China's wildlife policy reforms

Given the link between perceptions of zoonotic risk and support for regulations such as wildlife consumption bans, debates regarding the origins of COVID-19 are likely to have conservation implications. Specifically, alternative hypotheses that cast doubt on COVID-19's zoonotic origins could potentially lessen momentum for China's wildlife policy reforms and their associated conservation impacts. To better understand the impact of COVID-19 origin debates on China's wildlife policies, we conducted a 974-respondent survey across mainland China, supplemented by policy and media reviews. We examined perceptions of three facets of COVID-19 origins: geographic location, source (e.g., wildlife farm, wet market, etc.), and specific wildlife species as transmitters. Our findings reveal that 64.6 % of respondents believed COVID-19 originated in the United States or Europe, not in China. Further, compared to the baseline group of respondents who selected China as the origin country, respondents who selected the United States or Europe as the origin had a greater likelihood of selecting laboratories/research and imported frozen foods as likely sources, while these respondents had a lower likelihood of selecting wild animals in a wet market or natural causes as likely sources. Despite such varied beliefs regarding COVID-19 origins, support for wildlife policy reforms was strong: 89.5 % of respondents who previously consumed wildlife self-indicated reduced consumption after the pandemic and 70.5 % of respondents supported banning the trade of all wildlife species. Moreover, those respondents who selected wild animals in a wet market as a likely source of COVID-19 had a greater likelihood of supporting a trade ban on all wild-caught wildlife and all farmed wildlife. Our results indicate that, although investigation of COVID-19's origins is on-going and politicized, there is clear support for wildlife reforms in China that can promote conservation outcomes.

Illegal wildlife trade in two special economic zones in Laos: Underground–open-sale fluctuations in the Golden Triangle borderlands

The Laos borders with China, Myanmar, and Thailand have been identified as vulnerable hubs for illegal wildlife trade. In particular, some special economic zones (SEZs) in Laos are linked to illegal wildlife products, including tiger bones, rhino horn, and ivory for sale. SEZs are zones granted more free market-oriented economic policies and flexible governmental measures. In this study, we conducted on-site observations to identify high-valued wildlife, including (parts of) tigers, rhinos, bears, and pangolins in 2 of the 13 SEZs—the Golden Triangle and Boten SEZs—and conducted semistructured interviews with anonymous participants in 2017 and 2019. The trend regarding illegal wildlife trade in these SEZs seems to fluctuate. In the Golden Triangle SEZ, we found that the illegal trade in wildlife is present but occurs more covertly than previously observed; the trade transformed underground to online social media. In Boten SEZ, we found a decrease in bear bile products and an increase in the volume of tiger products openly for sale. Informants explained that the decrease of openly sold wildlife in the Golden Triangle SEZ has been influenced by media and political attention as well as inspections from local authorities, while in Boten SEZ, illegal wildlife traders diversified into tiger products, due to the decline in bear bile products and the reduction in the opportunity to obtain them.

Understanding the social impacts of enforcement activities on illegal wildlife trade in China

Illegal wildlife trade enforcement is a cornerstone conservation strategy worldwide, yet we have a limited understanding on its social impacts. Using Chinese online wildlife seizure news (2003-2018), we evaluated the interactions among enforcement operations, news frequency, and social engagement (i.e., whistle-blowing) frequency. Our results showed that intensive enforcement operations, which commenced after 2012, have social impacts by increasing the frequency of all seizure news significantly by 28% [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 5%, 51%] and those via whistle-blowing by 24% [95% CI: 2%, 45%], when compared to counterfactual models where possible confounding factors were accounted for. Furthermore, we revealed the potential interaction between enforcement seizure news with and without social engagement, and the consequential social feedback process. Of the species identified from 'whistle-blowing' news, up to 28% are considered as high conservation priorities. Overall, we expanded our understanding of the enforcement impacts to social dimensions, which could contribute to improving the cost-effectiveness of such conservation efforts.

Understanding why consumers in China switch between wild, farmed and synthetic bear bile products

An important rationale for legally-farmed and synthetic wildlife products are that they reduce illegal wild-sourced trade by supplying markets with sustainable alternatives. For this to work, more established illegal-product consumers must switch to legal alternatives than new legal-product consumers drawn to illegal wild products. Despite widespread debate on the magnitude and direction of switching, studies among actual consumers are lacking. We used an anonymous online survey of 1421 Traditional Chinese Medicine consumers in China to investigate switching between legal farmed, synthetic, and illegal wild bear bile. We examined past consumption behaviour, and applied a discrete choice experiment framed within worsening hypothetical disease scenarios, using latent class models to investigate groups with shared preferences. Bear bile consumers (86% respondents) were wealthier, more likely to have family who consumed bile, and less knowledgeable about bile treatments than non-consumers. Consumer preferences were heterogenous but most consumers preferred switching between bile types as disease worsened. We identified five distinct latent classes within our sample: 'law-abiding consumers' (34% respondents), who prefer legal products and were unlikely to switch; two 'all-natural consumer' groups (53%), who dislike synthetics but may switch between farmed and wild products; and two 'non-consumer' groups (12%) who prefer not to buy bile. People with past experience of bile consumption had different preferences than those without. Willingness to switch to wild products was related to believing they were legal, although the likelihood of switching was mediated by preferences for cheaper products sold in legal, familiar places. We show that consumers of wild bile may switch, given the availability of a range of legal alternatives, while legal-product consumers may switch to illegal products if the barriers to doing so are small. Understanding preferences that promote or impede switching should be a key consideration when attempting to predict consumer behaviour in complex wildlife markets. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

An integrative framework for transformative social change: a case in global wildlife trade

To achieve a sustainable future, it is imperative to transform human actions collectively and underlying social structures. Decades of research in social sciences have offered complementary insights into how such transformations might occur. However, these insights largely remain disjunct and of limited scope, such that strategies for solving global environmental challenges remain elusive. There is a need to integrate approaches focusing on individuals and social structures to understand how individual actions influence and are in turn influenced by social structures and norms. In this paper, we synthesize a range of insights across different schools of thought and integrate them in a novel framework for transformative social change. Our framework explains the relationships among individual behaviors, collective actions, and social structures and helps change agents guide societal transitions toward environmental sustainability. We apply this framework to the global wildlife trade-which presents several distinct challenges of human actions, especially amidst the Covid-19 pandemic-and identify pathways toward transformative change. One key distinction we make is between different individual actions that comprise the practice itself (e.g., buying wildlife products; private action) and those that push for a broader system change in practice (e.g., signaling (dis)approval for wildlife consumption; social-signaling action, and campaigning for policies that end unsustainable wildlife trade; system-changing action). In general, transformative change will require an integrative approach that includes both structural reforms and all three classes of individual action.

John FAV, Davies ZG. Drivers of Predator Killing by Rural Residents and Recommendations for Fostering Coexistence in Agricultural Landscapes

Predators inhabiting human-dominated landscapes are vulnerable to various anthropogenic actions, including people killing them. We assess potential drivers of predator killing in an agricultural landscape in southern Chile, and discuss the implications for policies and interventions to promote coexistence. We evaluate five different types of motivation: (i) sociodemographics and household economy; (ii) livestock loss; (iii) predator encounter rates; (iv) knowledge of legal protection (all native predators are currently protected); and, (v) tolerance to livestock predation. As the killing of native predators is illegal, the prevalence of this behavior by rural residents was estimated using a symmetrical forced-response randomized response technique (RRT), a method designed to ask sensitive questions. A total of 233 rural residents from randomly assigned sample units (4 km2) across the study region completed our questionnaire. More conspicuous species, such as hawks (Falconiformes sp), foxes (Lycalopex sp) and free-roaming domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), were killed by a higher proportion of farmers than more cryptic species, like the felid güiña (Leopardus guigna), skunk (Conepatus chinga) and pumas (Puma concolor). The proportion of respondents admitting to killing predators was highest for hawks (mean = 0.46, SE = 0.08), foxes (mean = 0.29, SE = 0.08) and dogs (mean = 0.30, SE = 0.08) and lowest for güiña (mean = 0.10, SE = 0.09), which is the only species of conservation concern we examine (considered Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List). From our five motivation categories, past killing of predators was associated with higher reported predator encounter rates (guina, hawks), lower tolerance to livestock predation (hawks, dogs), higher reported livestock loss (dogs) and sociodemographics and household economy (foxes). Our results demonstrate that a one-size-fits-all approach to predator persecution is unlikely to reduce or eliminate illegal killings for the suite of species we examined. We identify and describe two main types of intervention that could foster coexistence, improvement of livestock management and domestic dog management in rural areas, as well as discussing the potential for social marketing.

Using Participatory System Dynamics Modeling to Address Complex Conservation Problems: Tiger Farming as a Case Study

Conservation practitioners routinely work within complex social-ecological systems to address threats facing biodiversity and to promote positive human-wildlife interactions. Inadequate understanding of the direct and indirect, short- and long-term consequences of decision making within these dynamic systems can lead to misdiagnosed problems and interventions with perverse outcomes, exacerbating conflict. Participatory system dynamics (SD) modeling is a process that encourages stakeholder engagement, synthesizes research and knowledge, increases trust and consensus and improves transdisciplinary collaboration to solve these complex types of problems. Tiger conservation exemplifies a set of interventions in a complex social-ecological system. Wild tigers remain severely threatened by various factors, including habitat constraints, human-wildlife conflict, and persistent consumer demand for their body parts. Opinions differ on whether commercial captive tiger facilities reduce or increase the threat from poaching for trade, resulting in policy conflict among diverse stakeholder groups. This paper explains how we are working with international conservation partners in a virtual environment to utilize a participatory SD modeling approach with the goal of better understanding and promoting coexistence of humans and wild tigers. We highlight a step-by-step process that others might use to apply participatory SD modeling to address similar conservation challenges, building trust and consensus among diverse partners to reduce conflict and improve the efficacy of conservation interventions.