Help us fight wildlife crime

Feb 28, 2012

WSPA is today calling on the 2012 London Mayoral contenders to pledge to stamping out wildlife crime in the capital.

As the UK’s capital, London is a hub for the illegal wildlife trade but wildlife criminals are being allowed to get away with murder.

The winning Mayoral candidate needs to commit to properly resourcing the city’s specialist wildlife cops: the Metropolitan Police Service’s Wildlife Crime Unit.

Tell the winning candidate to stop this trade in cruelty >>

WSPA UK Campaigns Manager Rachel Alcock said: “Wildlife crime is not some niche, illicit trade carried out by petty part-time villains. It’s a major source of revenue for a global network of hardened criminals – gangs, drug lords, terrorists all growing rich from the trafficking of wildlife, none about to have a crisis of conscience and stop what they are doing.

“As long as the enforcement of their illegal activities is under-resourced and under-prioritised, there will be wildlife at risk of exploitation, cruelty and even extinction. We need the new Mayor to help us stop this trade in cruelty.”

A brutal business

The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars a year, a brutal business causing unnatural, painful deaths for its victims.

This tiger cub would have been around 10 days old when it was killed, stuffed and mounted, destined to sit on a mantelpiece in London.

We think it would have looked much better in the wild.

If you agree tell the new Mayor to stop wildlife crime now >>