Taking Animal Trafficking Out of the Shadows: RENCTAS Uses the Internet to Combat a Multi-Billion Dollar Trade

Abstract

Animal trafficking, the third largest illegal trade in the world after drugs and arms, is a US$20 billion business. Brazil is estimated to account for up to 15% of this illicit global trade.1 In Brazil alone approximately 38 million animals are poached every year, posing a deep threat to regional and global biodiversity. The trade is as wasteful as it is massive; nine out of ten animals die while being captured or trans- ported, often in torturous circumstances.