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Stop traffickers. Protect wildlife

Stop traffickers. Protect wildlife

To the Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy Jessika Roswall, and the entire European Commission

Petition

Europe should never be a safe marketplace for stolen wildlife. Today, criminals can exploit legal loopholes to sell wild-caught animals as captive-bred, allowing endangered animals taken from nature to enter the legal market.

We urge the European Commission to strengthen EU rules so that stolen wildlife can no longer be laundered through legal trade. Close the loopholes, improve traceability, strengthen verification of captive breeding claims, and make it much harder for traffickers to profit from wildlife crime.

Why is this important?

This summer, maybe you'll spot turtles on a beach. Hear birds at sunrise. Or even see monkeys swinging through the trees. 

But while we admire wildlife, traffickers steal thousands of wild animals from their natural homes. Once they reach Europe, they can sell them.

Weak rules and legal loopholes have made  the EU a main destination for wildlife stolen from Africa, Asia, the Americas and other parts of the world. [1]

A baby parrot stolen from the rainforest. A rare reptile taken from the wild. Once they enter the legal market, almost nobody knows where they really came from. Buyers often have no idea they're helping fuel wildlife crime. [2]

Every sale pushes more species towards extinction. Every loophole makes more money for criminal networks.

The good news is that this can change.

The European Commission is reviewing the rules right now. If enough of us speak up, we can help make sure Europe closes these loopholes and make it much harder for traffickers to profit. 

Wild animals belong in nature - not locked in cages and sold for profit. Will you add your name today and call for stronger EU rules to stop wildlife smuggling?

References:

  1. https://www.four-paws.be/our-stories/eu-press-releases/legal-loopholes-make-eu-a-prime-destination-for-stolen-wildlife-trade
  2. Report: The EU’s role as destination for wildlife traffickers https://d1jyxxz9imt9yb.cloudfront.net/resource/1856/attachment/original/stolen-wildlife-v.pdf