×

Analyzing wildlife crime

This is Northern Michigan University Professor Greg Warchol on a field research trip to Africa. Warchol talked about wildlife crime Wednesday at NMU’s Olson Library. (Photo courtesy of Greg Warchol)

MARQUETTE — Appealing photos of elephants and other African wildlife adorned the walls of Northern Michigan University’s Lydia Olson Library Wednesday to complement a presentation on that topic.

The focus, however, wasn’t just about lions and other animals. Instead, it was on wildlife crime, which made the photos of ivory tusks and products made from them all the more disturbing.

Giving the presentation was Greg Warchol, professor in the Criminal Justice Department at NMU.

One of the world’s leading experts on the illegal wildlife trade, Warchol recently published a book, “Exploiting the Wilderness: An Analysis of Wildlife Crime.”

Bob Hanson, associate professor in the NMU Criminal Justice Department, said his colleague has developed a “most remarkable specialty” in wildlife crime.

Evidence of that specialty was seen in Warchol’s photos, which showed a variety of scenes ranging from closeups of African wildlife to a simple road repair.

“This is a small portion of his photo library,” said Hanson, who has accompanied Warchol on African excursions.

Warchol said that about 16 or 17 years ago, he developed an interest in the illegal trade in wildlife, which he called a multi-billion-dollar trade involving common and endangered species.

“It goes on around the world,” Warchol said. “It’s not just limited to Africa. It’s in Asia. It’s in South America.”

The illegal wildlife trade also occurs in Russia and, to a lesser degree, in the United States and Europe, he said.

Wherever it occurs, wildlife populations are vulnerable.

“Any type of species that can be used for something — whether it’s food, decoration, clothing, building products, medicines — is subject to being taken from the wild illegally,” Warchol said.

He acknowledged that in terms of sheer volume, the biggest part of illegal wildlife trade is commercial fishing. However, what particularly garnered his interest was African wildlife.

Warchol has published journal articles on his research, which led to his developing courses on the subject at NMU, and has taken about 2,000 images depicting African wildlife and illegal trade.

Those images demonstrated one component of the topic.

“One aspect of the illegal trade, which is kind of a unique aspect, is the trade in the big cat species,” Warchol said.

When African lions are poached, he pointed out, it’s not so much for food.

“They’re killed for two reasons,” Warchol said. “One is they’re killed as conflict animals.”

For instance, animals that escape from unfenced game reserves kill livestock and occasionally humans, and in turned are killed, he said.

However, Warchol believes the more interesting aspect is the lion bone trade, which is connected to the tiger trade, an Asian phenomenon.

“The tiger trade involves the use of nearly all their body parts for traditional Asian medicines,” he said.

But as tiger populations dropped, an interest developed in Asia to find a substitute, which turned out to be the African lion whose numbers, he said, were estimated to be between 25,000 and 30,000 in the wild in Africa.

“It’s slowly having an impact on lion populations,” Warchol said.

Cheetahs are taken illegally too, he said, as they also can be considered conflict animals.

Another factor is the pet trade.

“Surprisingly, there is a trade in cheetah pelts where the mothers are killed and the young cubs are taken, and they tend to get shipped out of the continent,” Warchol said. “One destination for this is in the Middle East where the animals are prized.”

One of the most known aspects of illegal wildlife trade involves elephants, whose ivory tusks are highly valued.

However, attention started to be brought to their plight.

“These animals were being taken by organized poaching gangs,” Warchol said. “There were military units that were involved in southern Africa. It was a wide range of groups that were being involved in this.”

As elephant populations recovered, though, prohibitions on the export of ivory began to be reduced, he said, so poaching went on the rise, which continues today with more poaching in central Africa.

Ivory being smuggled out of an area can take a creative bent.

In Mozambique, a lot of poaching was tied to the legal timber trade involving Chinese timber companies working in the area, with an organized crime element also involved, he said. That element would recruit poachers to kill elephants, with the ivory put in a container with the timber shipment.

It’s that organized crime element that Warchol stressed plays a major part in poaching.

Subsistence bush meat poachers, on the other hand, typically use a spear, snare or other method to kill animals in small numbers, although large numbers of African buffaloes have been killed by commercial poaching gangs, he said.

Fortunately, there have been success stories.

Warchol said the southern white rhino population was down to between 50 and 200 animals from many tens of thousands, with the black rhino population dropping from about 100,000 animals to just a few thousand.

However, a huge recovery effort took place in South Africa beginning in the 1970s and lasted about 20 years, he said. Black rhino numbers were increased to about 6,000 to 8,000 animals, while the white rhino population went up to about 20,000 to 25,000 animals.

That didn’t mean poaching ended.

“Poachers are rational creatures,” Warchol said. “They go where the game is.”

So, they targeted Swaziland where reserves were hard hit, but eventually concrete bunkers with gun ports for rangers were built, he said.

“They ended up getting a handle on this,” Warchol said.

What, then, is the future of illegal wildlife trade and the animals it affects?

“I don’t think any of these things will be hunted to extinction, though, because they have run the numbers down on these animals at times, and they have recovered,” Warchol said, although there have been exceptions.

However, he noted the animals need the proper protection considering their vulnerability to poaching whenever a buck can be made.

“You need to have good, solid, dedicated security that’s well funded,” Warchol said.

And the more time he spent in Africa, the more he realized that privatization is key.

“When you have somebody who’s running a game farm, a breeding facility, a safari park for tourists, a hunting preserve, they have a big financial incentive to keep that animal alive, which means that they hire security,” Warchol said.

Drone aircraft and GPS systems are being used to combat poaching, said Warchol, who noted another needed component — rangers — have a tough job considering the hot weather and other hazards.

“It is very hard work,” Warchol said. “It is dangerous work too. You’re out in the bush. They were a lot of things there that will kill you.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today