Worldwide investigation finds significant wildlife crime, including in Canada

A Canadian at the head of an international body fighting wildlife smuggling says a three-week investigation resulted in more than 1,300 seizures worldwide — including some in Canada.

“Wildlife crime is a worldwide phenomena,” said Sheldon Jordan, head of Environment Canada’s wildlife enforcement and chairman of the wildlife crimes working group for Interpol, the international agency that co-ordinates law enforcement.

“We’re all destination countries, but we’re all source countries as well.”

Working with law enforcement in 43 countries, Jordan’s group mounted Operation Thunderbird, which ran from Jan. 30 to Feb. 19.

Speaking at a meeting in New York on Friday, he said the operation was designed to provide a snapshot of what was happening in the illegal trade of wildlife and forestry products.

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So far, he said, investigations have led to 89 individuals being jailed with terms ranging from several days to seven years.

In Canada, the hides of polar bears and other animals were seized, as was walrus ivory.

Elephant ivory was found coming into the country. So were hundreds of kilograms of illegal shark parts.

The list from other countries includes 60 tonnes of illegal wood, 4,700 birds, 100 wild cats — including jaguars and ocelots — and 1,240 reptiles. Investigators found 25 tonnes of meat and wildlife parts and more than 37,000 individual processed animal parts and derivatives.

Jordan said Operation Thunderbird was mostly designed to gather and collate information on investigations that were already occurring.

“We got the world together and reported what we were doing on wildlife crime for three weeks,” he said.

Even without special efforts, about $6 million worth of illegal shipments were seized during that time.

“This gives you a little bit of a taste of what was going on during a three-week period,” Jordan said. “This is just a snapshot of what was happening.”

A UN report suggests the total value of illegal worldwide trade in wildlife and forestry products is more than $1 billion a year. That puts it fourth on a list of organized crimes, behind only drugs, counterfeiting and human trafficking.

— Follow Bob Weber on Twitter at @row1960

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press