Project Issue - Wildlife Trafficking & Illegal Trade

People are selling and exchanging wild animals and their parts – including food, pets, leather, ornaments, “trophies,” or “medicine,” at a crisis level illegally and unsustainably. This is not a simple issue, but one filled with examples of the intense pressures of poverty, lack of training in enforcement, governmental corruption, and the careless demand for wildlife products by global consumers. Defeating just individual poachers is not the answer, but part of a much larger puzzle of international trade and demand. And it is a problem which is only growing.

Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute are doing what we know to be right – by working to end wildlife trafficking. By utilising Jane Goodall’s influence and access to government and community leaders, along with JGI coordinating with NGOs, institutions and various companies and coalitions (including USWTA) we are able to both support legislation to protect wildlife and assist on the ground at every level. Additionally, using Jane’s fifth Reason for Hope [Social Media], we have used campaigns like Jane’s Traffic Stop to help spread awareness about wildlife trafficking and end it for good.

Having intimately witnessed this heinous trade for decades, as some of the most vulnerable victims are young chimpanzees, Jane and JGI are committed to protecting the diversity and beauty of global wildlife, keeping wildlife wild.