Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

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Global Ecology and Conservation

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gecco

Original research article

Typologies of urban wildlife traffickers and sellers

a,⁎
Meredith L. Gore , Robert Mwinyihali , Luc Mayet , b c
]]
]]]]]]
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Gavinet Duclair Makaya Baku-Bumb c, Christian Plowman c, Michelle Wieland b

a
Department of Geographical Sciences, 2181 LeFrak Hall, 7251 Preinkert Drive, College Park, MD 20742, USA
b
Wildlife Conservation Society, 56 Ave Col Ebeya, Democratic Republic of the Congo
c
Wildlife Conservation Society, Avenue du Génértal De Gaulle, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo

a r t i cl e i nfo a bstr ac t

Article history: Urban wildmeat consumption can contribute to significant declines in wildlife populations,
Received 27 January 2021 ecosystem function, and food insecurity security. Describing types of individuals involved in
Received in revised form 21 March 2021 illegal urban wildmeat trafficking can help distinguish ordinary citizens from members of
Accepted 23 March 2021
criminal organizations and urban vs. rural dimensions of the activity. This research aimed to:
Available online xxxx
(1) create and apply a typology for urban wildmeat traffickers and sellers; and (2) explore
linkages between types of urban wildmeat traffickers and sellers. We used focus groups with
Keywords:
Bonobo experts in Republic of the Congo, February 2019 (N = 2, n = 7–10) to achieve objectives and
Bushmeat focused on pangolins, great apes, and dwarf crocodiles. Participants generated risk rankings
Chimpanzee for each species, typology and city; data was encoded and indexed. Results illustrate het­
Conservation criminology erogeneity in actors involved in the illegal supply chain. Business sideliner and trading
Crocodile charity trafficker types were associated with the highest total risk to wildlife trafficking. A
Gorilla similar pattern of divergence was detected for seller typologies; hidden and casual sellers
Pangolin were associated with the greatest total risk in Pointe Noire and Brazzaville, respectively.
Republic of the Congo
Differentiating but not stove piping stakeholders involved in urban wildmeat trafficking will
help clarify stages of illegal supply chains as well and promote thinking about new sectors to
involve in interventions and solutions, particularly in urban ecosystems thought to be out­
side the scope to wildlife crime.
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
CC_BY_NC_ND_4.0

1. Urban wildlife trafficking supply chains

Consumption of wildmeat—also sometimes called bushmeat—can sometimes contribute to significant declines in wildlife
populations, ecosystem function, and local food security (e.g., Fa et al., 2003; Ripple et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2012). Although the
trade in wildmeat can be legal and formal in some instances, it becomes illegal when species that are protected by law are taken
from any wild place, when species are taken from protected areas, trafficked across borders, or otherwise treated in a manner in
contravention of the rule of law, often through informal value chains (van Vliet et al., 2019). Both the growing illegal trade and
urban demand for wildmeat intensify existing pressures on wildlife (e.g., Gluszek et al., 2018; Swan et al., 2017), particularly
species that are vulnerable from other threats such as climate change, deforestation, or pollution. Insight about the urban

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: gorem@umd.edu (M.L. Gore), rmwinyihali@wcs.org (R. Mwinyihali), lmayet@wcs.org (L. Mayet), dmakaya@wcs.org (G.D.M. Baku-Bumb),
cplowman@wcs.org (C. Plowman), mwieland@wcs.org (M. Wieland).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01557
2351-9894/© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
CC_BY_NC_ND_4.0
M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

dimensions of wildlife trafficking are grossly under-researched although the problem is increasingly recognized as being serious
(e.g., Gluszek et al., 2021).
Inquiry on urban legal and illegal wildmeat supply chains help clarify the structure, organization, logistics, resilience, and
function of specific chains across the entire crime ecosystem across which they operate (e.g., Bachmann et al., 2019; van Vliet
et al., 2019; Patel et al., 2015). Such insight is useful for assessing changes in supply chain structure after interventions designed
to deliberately fragment the supply chain, for example. Although demand-side information on wildmeat consumption is
growing and complementing our nascent understanding of the structure and operations of the trade (e.g., Bachmann et al.,
2019; van Vliet et al., 2019), we have an inadequate understanding of stakeholders involved in various stages of the wildmeat
trafficking supply chain, particularly in urban environments (Bachmann et al., 2019; Gluszek et al., 2018; van Vliet et al., 2019).
Crime in urban environments is known to have many distinguishing features from rural crime, and vice versa (e.g., crime rates,
degree of violence and vice, involvement of firearms). A lack of attention to the distinguishing urban crime features is pro­
blematic for conservation because it means that our interventions (e.g., regulatory policies, crime prevention strategies, social
marketing campaigns) are limited by design. Without an evidence-based classification system for types of offenders involved in
urban wildmeat trafficking, conservationists and their partners risk homogenizing offenders into a single group, which in turn
can result in over-stereotyping, fetishizing, injustice, and failed objectives.

2. Urban dimensions of wildlife trafficking

Wildlife trafficking into cities to meet non-essential demand for wildmeat poses a threat to many species of wildlife (El Bizri
et al., 2020), particularly in Central Africa (e.g., Gluszek et al., 2021). Species such as pangolins and crocodiles are sold openly in
urban markets and restaurants, although they are protected at different regulatory levels. Pangolins, apes, and crocodiles (i.e.,
“PAC species”) are three groups of concern for conservationists in the Republic of the Congo. The western lowland gorilla (Gorilla
gorilla gorilla), bonobo (Pan paniscus), central chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes), black-bellied pangolin (Phatgainus tet­
radactyla), giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) and dwarf crocodile (Osteo­
laemus osborni) are all known to be consumed as wildmeat in urban areas. For example, the Regional Action Plan for the
Conservation of Western Lowland Gorillas and Central Chimpanzees suggests the majority of apes poached are killed for their
meat and destined for urban markets. Studies have found that apes represent less than 0.1% of the total number of carcasses
found in markets yet apes are highly vulnerable to hunting pressure due to their low reproductive rates and already diminished
populations. With pangolins, we know between 0.4 and 2.7 million individuals are hunted annually in Central Africa, making all
three species vulnerable to extinction (Ingram et al. 2018, 2019a, 2019b). Tens of thousands of dwarf crocodiles are reaching
cities every year, but little is known about the sustainability of current offtake, as they are one of the least studied crocodilian
species (Shirley et al., 2009, Eaton, 2010).
Wildmeat, along with fish, is a traditional food staple and significant protein source for many forest-dwelling people.
Hunting and fishing contribute to rural diets and in low-density and non-commercial settings do not normally pose a threat to
wildlife populations (Nielsen et al., 2018; WCS, 2016). The loss of pangolins, apes, and crocodiles due to illegal overharvesting
for wildmeat would result in loss of tourism revenue, have a destabilizing effect on ecosystems, and impact rural communities
who still rely on their natural resource base for livelihoods and food security. The Republic of the Congo’s Nouabalé-Ndoki
National Park, for example, has huge potential for ecotourism because it is one of the few areas in Central Africa where gorillas
can be reliably observed due to the existence of natural forest clearings and viewing platforms.
Wildmeat is a popular type of food in Central Africa’s urban areas (e.g., Ingram, 2020). It adds a broader diversity to the
protein market landscape, is seen as healthier than some options of proteins that have questionable cold chain importation, and
plays an important role in social cohesion (Chausson et al., 2019). This urban consumption is unsustainable and illegal yet is
lucrative for supply chain actors in the short term (Wilkie et al., 2016; van Vliet et al., 2019). Urban wildmeat trafficking, like
other types of wildlife trafficking, is widely acknowledged to connect source, transit, and destination geographies (UNODC,
2016). Interventions to reduce harms from trafficking are thus targeted at these specific source, transit, and demand destina­
tions (e.g., poachers, traffickers, sellers). Beyond insight about the linkages between space and time, effective interventions
require insight about linkages between involved stakeholders across crime ecosystems (e.g., urban ecosystem). The extant
literature has diverse typologies of stakeholders involved with the source geography of wildlife trafficking (i.e., poachers). This
literature discusses the motivations, attitudes, behaviours, and other human dimensions of poachers or illegal hunters (e.g.,
Kahler and Gore, 2012; Eliason, 2004; Muth and Bowe, 1988). There is significantly less literature characterizing stakeholders
within the transit and destination geographies of wildlife trafficking (e.g., traffickers and sellers; see South and Wyatt, 2011;
Leborato 2017, Phelps et al., 2016 for exceptions), and the literature on consumers in particular appears to be increasing.
Consumers are often the primary stakeholders of interest in destination geographies because their consumption behaviour can
be so influential on demand. Although consumers can be in urban ecosystems, the discrete urban dimension of consumption
does not seem to be a focus of the extant literature.

3. Types of individuals involved in urban wildlife trafficking

Describing “typologies of individuals” involved in urban wildmeat trafficking may help distinguish ordinary citizens from
members of criminal organizations (e.g., Pires et al., 2016), and thus reduce stereotyping and injustice. This specificity is im­
portant because lawmakers and the general public often view offenders as homogenous populations with high risk of

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M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

recidivism and low probability of rehabilitation (e.g., Kaseweter et al., 2016). Research on other populations of actors involved in
violations of the rule of law (e.g., drug offenders), suggests they can be heterogeneous and vary considerably in their offending
behaviour, motivations, and risk of reoffending (e.g., DeHart, 2018; Chassid-Segin et al., 2020). Homogenous thinking about
offenders involved in wildmeat trafficking, or “umbrella labelling” is a consequential decision, not only in terms of restricted
liberties for specific individuals but also due to additional costs associated with sentencing, treatment of offenders, community
supervision, and allocation of resources (e.g., Kaseweter 2016). Because placing offenders into a single category can be mis­
guided in at least these ways, creating subtypes is often considered by criminologists, scientists with expertise in crime and
crime control, to be a most useful endeavour (e.g., van Uhm and Nijman, 2020).
Criminologists and law enforcement practitioners have noted that comparing wildlife trafficking to other more serious
crimes such as gun, drug, or human trafficking can make dual contributions to theory that aid appropriate prevention tactics
targeted at “green crimes” like urban wildmeat trafficking, illegal trade in electronic waste, or illegal fishing (Wyatt et al., 2020,
Gibbs et al., 2010). Identifying shared criminal dispositional characteristics such as typologies, also helps situate aspects of
wildmeat trafficking against other serious crimes considered by the community of practice exploring the global criminal
economy that crosses borders, comprises multiple commodities, and is sustained by multiple modus operandi (South and
Wyatt, 2011), such as human trafficking or trade-based money laundering. Characterizing stakeholders is also useful for fo­
cusing the format, content and distribution methods of communication, marketing, or education campaigns designed to in­
fluence human behaviour (Gore and Knuth, 2009; Phelps et al., 2016). Generally, typologies that enhance conceptual
connections to the global criminal economy have a positive, valued-added effect on law enforcement activities (South and
Wyatt, 2011). Criminologists often utilize typologies that are created using secondary data (e.g., case file reports) and the
literature, and produce descriptive results (e.g., Wyatt et al., 2020, South and Wyatt, 2011).
The literature on theoretical similarities across the typologies of offenders involved in specific crimes of drug and wildlife
trafficking is limited (e.g., South and Wyatt, 2011). Convergence in nature of these crimes, such as offender’s common use of
infrastructure, modus operandi, money laundering techniques, or exploitation of corrupt government officials is a topic of great
contemporary interest (e.g., Felbab-Brown, 2017; Shelley and Kinnard, 2018; van Uhm, 2016). There is no peer-reviewed lit­
erature that we can find empirically exploring typologies of stakeholders from more than one trafficking geography in the same
study, nor for urban stakeholders. This means we lack understanding about the heterogeneity of offenders; effective classifi­
cation systems are fundamental to the application of scientific evidence in criminal justice systems. To these ends, we set the
following objectives for this study: (1) create and apply a typology for urban wildmeat traffickers and sellers; and (2) explore
linkages between types of urban wildmeat traffickers and sellers. We created a draft terminology of urban wildmeat trafficking
typologies for five types of individuals or groups based on an existing typology of drug traffickers (South and Wyatt, 2011):
trading charities, mutual societies, business sideliners, criminal diversifiers, and opportunistic irregulars. We created a draft
typology of wildmeat sellers, or individuals at the end of the illicit supply chain, on Leberatto’s (2017) wildlife-based typology
that has not been applied to drug-related crime. Using Leberatto’s (2017) terminology, we explored five demand typologies:
casual, transient, opportunistic, hidden, and professional.

4. Methods

This research was part of a broader effort designed to increase knowledge about motives for urban wildmeat trafficking,
strengthen cross-border information sharing and law enforcement, and increase, then sustain, efforts to change the behaviour
of urban consumers in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chausson et al., (2019), Gluszek
et al. (2021), Kahler et al. (2019), and Boratto and Gore (2018), for example, detail the sociocultural drivers of urban wildmeat
consumption, role of restaurants across the value chain, obstacles and opportunity structures associated with trafficking, and
trafficking flows into cities. Our smaller research effort can be contextualized within this literature and focused on the Republic
of the Congo, home to more than 4.5 million people (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). The majority of the country’s
population (about 70%) resides in the capital, Brazzaville, the west coast city of Pointe Noire, or along railways that connect
these urban centers (CIA, 2019). Two cities in the Republic of the Congo were selected because of their large urban population
size relative to the country and proximity to a wide range of biodiversity in the Congo Basin forest; both cities also exemplify the
wildmeat trade in many parts of Africa with strong and established wildmeat cultures. Congo-Brazzaville is part of the second
largest contiguous tropical forest in the world 1000 (United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014). Pangolins, great apes, and
dwarf crocodiles are species of conservation concern, known to be trafficked into urban areas to meet non-essential demand for
protein (Table 1).

4.1. A Typology of Wildmeat Traffickers

We created a typology of urban wildmeat traffickers, recognizing these types of offenders vary at least in their pro­
fessionalism, offending rates, criminality, and need for resources that support offending (Table 2).
Trading charities traffic wildmeat because it helps to fill a cultural, medicinal, or other important social purpose, for example
celebrating a lifecycle event or rite of passage such as a wedding, birth, funeral, circumcision or other important celebration.
Trading charities have cultural commitments to having wildmeat at these important celebrations. They profit from wildmeat
sales, but the profit is secondary to the wildmeat’s role in the cultural event. One possible example would be a trafficker that

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M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

Table 1
Pangolins, great apes and dwarf crocodiles were the species of interest for this research because they are species of conservation concern and are known to be
trafficked into urban areas to meet non-essential demand for protein in Pointe Noire and Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo.

Species International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red Wildmeat poaching and trafficking-related concerns
List Profile

Dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus Listed as vulnerable, included in international N/A

tetraspis) (Crocodile Specialist
Group, 1996)
Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla
gorilla gorilla) (Maisels
et al., 2018)
Central chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes
troglodytes) (Humle et al., 2016)
Giant ground pangolin (Smutsia
gigantea) (Nixon et al., 2019)
Black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus
tetradactyla) (Ingram et al.,
2019a, 2019b)
White-bellied pangolin (Phataginus
tricuspis) (Pietersen et al., 2019)
legislation, subject to international trade controls
and management, with unclassified threats and
trade uses
Listed as critically endangered, included in
international legislation, subject to international
trade controls and management, threatened by
agriculture, energy production and mining,
transportation corridors, biological resource use,
human disturbance, invasive species, climate change
Listed as endangered, included in international
legislation, subject to international trade controls
and management, threatened by development,
agriculture, energy production, transportation,
corridors, biological resource use, invasive species,
climate change
Listed as endangered, included in international
legislation, subject to international trade controls
and management, threatened by development,
agriculture, energy production, transportation
corridors, biological resource use, human
disturbance, climate change
Listed as vulnerable, included in international
legislation, subject to international trade controls
and management, threatened by development,
agriculture, transportation corridors, biological
resource use, human disturbance, climate change
Listed as endangered, included in international
legislation, subject to international trade controls
and management, threatened by agriculture, energy
production, biological resource use, climate change
Illegal hunting for wildmeat is considered a serious
problem across species range, which is fuelled by
increased access to forested areas from logging and
mining road construction, giving poachers access into
species range and traffickers access out (Laporte et al.,
2007; Edwards et al., 2014; White and Fa, 2014)
Illegal hunting for wildmeat is a serious problem,
fuelled by ease of obtaining guns and ammunition,
transport system efficiency, and high financial
incentives for supplying urban markets; species are
sometimes targeted opportunistically but also targeted
because they provide more meat than smaller
mammals (Quiatt et al., 2002); when adults are killed
for meat their infants sometimes are trafficked for pets
(Hicks et al., 2010)
Species is subject to widespread exploitation for
bushmeat and traditional medicine in both rural and
urban areas; the breakdown of norms protecting the
species has led to an increase in hunting pressure in
some areas (Colyn et al., 1987; Kingdon et al., 2013)
Species is threatened by hunting for local and
increasingly international traditional medicine and
bushmeat markets, indicated in part by 2.3% increase
in urban market prices (Ingram et al., 2018)
Overexploitation and habitat loss are the two main
threats to this species; white-bellied pangolins are by
far the African pangolin species most frequently found
in bushmeat markets; the species is widely used for
traditional medicine and is often preferred by healers
over other species; illegal international trade to Asian
markets suggests the species are often intentionally
targeted at the point of harvest for their scales for illicit
trade as opposed to being a by-product of the wildmeat
trade (Ingram et al., 2018)

supplies a customer with great ape meat so she can send the meat overseas to a diaspora family member who is about to
welcome a new baby into her house.
Mutual societies include individuals with disposable income who enjoy the act of collecting exotic and rare species as well as
comparing and sharing their collections. These friendship or hobby networks may exchange or sell wildmeat amongst them­
selves in a reciprocal fashion and traffic specific species for specific purposes (e.g., great ape meat consumed for strength and
power) or connoisseurship (e.g., add a new specimen to collection). These individuals may have a particular “collector type”
lifestyle that matches their customers; this lifestyle revolves around their livelihood profession; wildlife trafficking is more of an
identity characteristic than a livelihood endeavour.
Business sideliners operate legal commercial businesses for economic profit and make their way into trafficking wildmeat as
a way to supplement income. Ultimately the legal business may act as a “cover” or “shell” for the illegal wildmeat business,
which may not be more profitable than the legal business. Legal wildmeat business or other agricultural commodity businesses
such as those that sell maize, rice, manioc or farm-raised meat may overlap with wildmeat trafficking.
Criminal diversifiers incorporate wildlife trafficking into existing illicit supply chains such as those involved in drug traf­
ficking; they have identified profitable opportunities in trafficking wildlife and respond in an economically rational way. These
groups could be organized crime syndicates looking for large profits alongside a low risk of detection. Low level and amateur
poachers and dealers may pass on their wildmeat to organized crime contacts who then become involved as experts in moving
the illicit product across the border regardless of what the project is.
Opportunistic irregulars can include individuals and groups of any size who are often street-level operators who are very
familiar with the communities in which they traffic. They take advantage of limited openings and may acquire wildmeat
accidentally. They are not likely to be involved with wildmeat trafficking over the long term and may not be well resourced. It is

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M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

Table 2
A matrix summarizing the attributes and characteristics of different types of traffickers involved in urban wildmeat traf­
ficking. Each cell in the matrix illustrates potential variation according to these characteristics and with regards to urban
wildmeat trafficking in cities used in this research, ranging from low (empty triangle) to high (full square).

possible these individuals are not overly successful in trafficking wildmeat because they lack criminal experience, resources,
and connections.

4.2. A typology of wildmeat sellers

We created a typology of urban wildmeat sellers, recognizing these individuals vary in their professionalism, offending rates,
criminality, and need for resources (Table 3).
Casual sellers can be either individuals or groups taking advantage of single opportunities or chance encounters to traffic
wildlife and may have come across wildmeat by accident or through a connection with a friend or a family member. Typically,

Table 3
A matrix summarizing the attributes and characteristics of different types of sellers involved in urban wildmeat trafficking.
Each cell in the matrix illustrates potential variation according to these characteristics and with regards to urban wildmeat
trafficking in cities used in this research, ranging from low (empty triangle) to high (full square).

Urban Wildmeat Traffickers

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M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

sellers are not that familiar with the best places to sell illegal wildmeat nor have a formal mechanism (e.g., table at a market) or
infrastructure (e.g., cold storage) for doing so.
Transient sellers engage in low frequency selling of wildmeat, do not often have large quantities or varied types of wildmeat
at a single point in time. Transient sellers may not always be able to afford to buy wildmeat and then sell it for profit, nor do
they necessarily have infrastructure (e.g., table in market, refrigeration) to support their sales.
Opportunistic sellers commercialize species of wildmeat when the opportunity presents itself and may only sell what they
are able to obtain at very low prices. Wildmeat is a supplement to the regular commodities they sell, and they may only sell
certain types of wildmeat because they don’t have the infrastructure or other means to sell different types of wildmeat.
Hidden sellers commercialize wildmeat in a concealed or secretive manner, but are not necessarily organized crime groups.
They may sell endangered species or very rare species of wildmeat. Buyers have to know who hidden sellers are and how to
reach them in order to gain access to wildmeat; this means hidden sellers have to have a known reputation. They may work to
fill direct requests when clients call, or they may push out calls to clients to alert them that a particular type of wildmeat is
available.
Professional sellers frequently sell wildmeat, perhaps many different species at a single time; these individuals derive a large
proportion of their income from selling wildmeat. Professional sellers may have a personal interest in traditions of wildmeat
selling or have wildmeat-related connections to family, such as an uncle who sends wildmeat from forest-adjacent towns.

4.3. Validating the typologies for urban wildmeat trafficking and selling

We used focus groups with experts to help achieve objectives (i.e., adapted expert elicitation) Trochim and Donnelly (2001).
Focus groups are a form of group interviewing where there is a questioner and one or more interviewees; the purpose is to
probe the ideas of the interviewees about the phenomenon of interest. Focus groups are a common field research method in
conservation; the methodology enables paper and electronic note taking, videography and other forms of data collection
Trochim and Donnelly (2001). Two focus groups of 7–10 individuals were held in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, the Republic of
the Congo, February 2019. Expert elicitation is widely used in conservation, particularly in contexts where substantive in­
formation on a particular topic is not widely known or studied (Martin et al., 2011). In some instances, expert judgement is the
only source of information for making conservation decisions, particularly those that involve risk assessment (e.g., invasive
species management, different intensities of livestock grazing on woodland birds). The informativeness of expert elicitation is
reflected in the precision and confidence of judgements and not necessarily on the number of elicitation procedures or experts
involved. Focus groups are commonly used methods for expert elicitation. McBride and Burgman (2011) proposed three dif­
ferent types of expertise: substantive (i.e., domain knowledge), normative (i.e., ability to accurately and clearly communicate),
and adaptive (i.e., capacity to extrapolate to new contexts). Our focus groups purposefully included individuals with a range of
these types of expertise, as identified by the authors based on the participants’ professional reputation. Individuals meeting
these expertise criteria, plus availability and willingness to participate, were recruited for the focus groups Trochim and
Donnelly (2001). Participants were not compensated for participating however a coffee and tea break was provided.
The focus group “script” (i.e., agenda or lesson plan), used in both focus groups, was informed by previous research detailing
attributes of the illicit PAC supply chain in Kinshasa and Brazzaville (Gluszek et al., 2018; Gluszek et al., 2021; Kahler et al., 2019;
Boratto and Gore, 2018). Focus groups opened with a presentation of typology definitions and examples via Powerpoint pre­
sentation presented in English translated verbally into French. To compliment the Presentation, each of the five typologies was
hand-written in English and French on a single 3″x5″ card; trafficker typologies were printed on pink cards and seller typologies
were printed on blue cards to help participants visually distinguish the typologies from each other. After the presentation,
participants discussed definitions as a group and verbally agreed with definitions. Participants were next asked to consider the
local urban context and rank the trafficking and selling typologies from high to low perceived importance and high to low
perceived prevalence. Perceived importance was defined as the value in terms of facilitating the trade and also the perceived
frequency of the type, or the tempo of the trade; one was ranked as the highest risk and five ranked as the lowest risk. Perceived
prevalence was defined as the frequency in groups of two to three people. Risk ranking was conducted verbally among all focus
group participants and participants were encouraged to incorporate examples into the discussion in support their judgements
and estimates (Kahler and Gore, 2015). There were no instances where participants were unable to come to consensus on their
risk rankings. Risk rankings were recorded on flip charts by participants. In these regards, typology validation was produced via
indirect elicitation, in that answers relate to expert’s experiences and are later encoded by a scientist (Martin et al., 2011). Focus
groups were conducted in English and French, with a locally certificated professional English-French interpreter and translator
with environmental subject area expertise. The interpreter reviewed the focus group script prior to the first focus group
commencing and had prior experience interpreting on the same subject for the lead author (see Gore and Kahler, 2015 for
reliability and validity of conservation criminology research methods in cross-cultural contexts).

5. Analysis

Risk rankings listed on flip charts, for each species and city, were encoded into an Excel file format for analysis. Encoding
involves translating information that has been elicited indirectly into more quantitative formats that can be used in other
analyses; it is common practice for analysing data derived from indirect expert elicitation (Martin et al., 2011). Three risk indices
were created for each typology and city, Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, to facilitate standardized data comparison. We calculated

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an importance index (P), incident index (I), and total risk index (Rj) based on the number of typologies participants identified as
being relevant (Tschakert, 2007; Kahler and Gore, 2015):

(r 1)
P= +1
(n 1)

where r is the rank and n is the total number of typologies identified by participants as being relevant (range 0–1). The incident
index was the proportion of participants that ranked a particular typology as being common (range 0–1). The total risk index
ranged from 0–1 and was calculated as Rj = Ij/(2-Pj). These calculations were computed for both trafficker and seller typologies
and for each city individually and then aggregated.

6. Results

Our first objective was to create and apply a typology for urban wildmeat traffickers and sellers for PAC species in Brazzaville
and Pointe Noire, the Republic of the Congo. Expert focus groups initially agreed that both the seller and trafficker typologies
were conceptually relevant to PAC wildmeat trafficking, however groups documented variation in the typologies’ perceived
importance, incidence, and total risk for both traffickers (Fig. 1) and sellers (Fig. 2). No trafficker or seller typology ranked above
average, illustrating heterogeneity in actors involved in the illegal supply chain, according to study participants. Business
sideliner and trading charity trafficker types were associated with the highest total risk toward wildlife trafficking in Pointe

Fig. 1. In 2019, expert focus groups in Brazzaville (N = 1, n = 7) and Pointe Noire (N = 1, n = 10), the Republic of the Congo, ranked five typologies of traffickers
involved in urban wildmeat trafficking of pangolins, great apes, and dwarf crocodiles. These typologies varied in their perceived seriousness (importance),
frequency (incidence) and overall risk (seriousness plus frequency), on scales ranging from 0 (low) to 1 (high). Variations in perceptions are evident across
trafficker types as well as cities.

Fig. 2. In 2019, expert focus groups in Brazzaville (N = 1, n = 7) and Pointe Noire (N = 1, n = 10), the Republic of the Congo, ranked five typologies of sellers
involved in urban wildmeat trafficking of pangolins, great apes, and dwarf crocodiles. These typologies varied in their perceived seriousness (importance),
frequency (incidence) and overall risk (seriousness plus frequency), on scales ranging from 0 (low) to 1 (high). Variations in perceptions are evident across seller
types as well as cities.

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M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

Fig. 3. In 2019, expert focus groups in Brazzaville (N = 1, n = 7) and Pointe Noire (N = 1, n = 10), the Republic of the Congo, ranked five typologies of traffickers
involved in urban wildmeat trafficking of pangolins, great apes, and dwarf crocodiles. Participants perceived variation in the prevalence of each type of trafficker
across different species and different cities, presented in scales ranging from 0 (low) to 4 (high).

Fig. 4. In 2019, expert focus groups in Brazzaville (N = 1, n = 7) and Pointe Noire (N = 1, n = 10), the Republic of the Congo, ranked five typologies of sellers
involved in urban wildmeat trafficking of pangolins, great apes, and dwarf crocodiles. Participants perceived variation in the prevalence of each type of trafficker
across different species and different cities, presented in scales ranging from 0 (low) to 4 (high).

Noire and Brazzaville, respectively. (Fig. 1). A similar pattern of divergence was detected for seller typologies; hidden and casual
sellers were associated with the greatest total risk in Pointe Noire and Brazzaville, respectively (Fig. 2).
Focus group participants differentially ranked the perceived prevalence of trafficker typologies across PAC species and their
parts (Fig. 3). For pangolins, participants immediately identified a distinction in stakeholders trafficking for meat versus traf­
ficking for scales; the breadth of typologies helped facilitate discussion of the distinction, which appeared important for par­
ticipants. Pangolin scale trafficking was qualitatively characterized as being a more organized and profit-driven, transit and
high-level criminal activity whereas pangolin wildmeat trafficking was characterized by more informal, relational typologies.
We included pangolin scales in our final presentation of results because participants identified the issue and we did not want to
artificially constrain the data. Inquiry into the linkages between pangolin wildmeat and scale trafficking would help untangle
this relationship from an illegal value chain perspective. Our analysis of species-specific rankings revealed a sharp dichotomy
between perceptions of the role of, in particular, business insiders and criminal diversifiers within each city. Analysis of par­
ticipants’ perceptions of seller prevalence illustrated city and species-specific variation, with the most overlap in perceptions of
opportunistic and casual sellers (Fig. 4).
Our second objective was to explore linkages between PAC wildmeat traffickers and sellers. Linkages, and lack thereof,
between trafficking and selling were evident in encoded and quantified rankings of typology prevalence and importance, as
well as the qualitative descriptions recorded on flip charts. Looking across all information elicited from experts about both
typologies, participants revealed differences in linkages according to different species (Table 4).

7. Discussion

Typologies are useful for the community of stakeholders working to respond and prevent urban wildmeat trafficking
(Sollund, 2019; van Uhm and Nijman, 2020). Beyond “target specific” insights about wildlife, identifying commonalities
typologies of urban wildmeat trafficking and selling with drug trafficking can help support interagency efforts to counter
trafficking writ large because of new understanding about the typological characteristics of offenders that are involved. For
example, typology-related insight would help fulfil commitments posed in the proposed Wildlife Protocol to the United Nations

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M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

Table 4
Species-specific linkages between wildmeat traffickers and sellers, based on expert focus groups in the Republic of the Congo.

Species-specific linkages between wildmeat traffickers and Description of linkage (s)

sellers

Trading charity traffickers + opportunistic sellers for
great apes
Opportunistic irregular traffickers + opportunistic sellers for
crocodiles
Business sideliner and criminal diversifier traffickers +
professional sellers for pangolin scales
Opportunistic irregular traffickers + casual sellers for
pangolin meat
Trading charities traffic great ape meat, often specific cuts of meat, because of its
cultural purpose. Sellers are opportunistic in that they commercialize wildmeat when
the occasion presents itself and can specialize in great apes. These linkages reinforce
notions about great ape meat being consumed locally for lifecycle events, and cultural
and special occasions (Strindberg et al., 2018).
Opportunistic irregulars take advantage of limited openings to traffic crocodiles, are
street-level and street-smart. Opportunistic sellers may sell only crocodiles because
they don’t have infrastructure (e.g., reliable cold storage) to sell other species.
Crocodiles are known to be able to survive for many months without food (M. Shirley,
personal communication) and are often moved and stored with little or no special
requirements, tied up and put in a closet or corner of a room; they can be relatively
light to lift and can be moved by bicycle, car, truck or cart.
Business sideliners operate legal economic units, such as wildmeat market tables and
“lock” illegal products such as pangolin scales onto their legal business model.
Pangolin scales may be sold alongside other products such as porcupine quills.
Criminal diversifiers use traditional economic models of supply and demand and
often have connections with border officials; they can be bilingual (e.g., Lingala,
Munukutuba, Swahili, French, English). The transnational nature of pangolin scale
trafficking requires border contacts and professional sellers manage the logistics of
the illicit supply chain, moving large quantities of scales across oceans and continents.
Based on participant perceptions, this is the most high-level criminal connection of all
species.
In contrast to pangolin scales, pangolin meat is consumed locally, moves at street-
level and can be traded informally. Pangolin meat is often eaten inside the home,
meaning relationships between family and friends may enable chances to transit or
exchange meat.

Convention on Organized Crime, which includes “increasing the exchange of information, including on known organized group
suspected of taking part in trafficking, means of concealment of illicit goods…and enhancing border controls including the
means of transporting specimens.” We know urban wildmeat trafficking is unsustainable and at times can be associated with
other criminal activities such as drug (e.g., cocaine) trafficking (C. Plowman, personal observation). In some instances, urban
wildmeat trade connects large geographical areas in ways that provide unique vantage into forest-city landscapes (e.g., the
forests of northwest Democratic Republic of Congo and the port city of Lagos, Nigeria) (Mayor et al., 2019). Typologies can help
highlight human behavioural similarities between illicit trades that may appear to be at opposite ends of the threat spectrum, or
that may not be discernible using other approaches such as cultural or economic-only approaches (e.g., Bachmann et al., 2019).
Multisectoral and interdisciplinary groups can only benefit from recognizing the commonalities that exist among those threats
(Foss, 2017).
In criminology, typologies are often used to inform tailored regulatory and criminal justice reforms and improve under­
standing of the different ways that crime manifests, for example urban wildmeat trafficking likely has a unique urban di­
mensions when compared to rural wildlife trafficking (e.g., different crime patterns, crime rates). In conservation, typologies are
often used to segment stakeholders for public engagement, social marketing, citizen science efforts, public perceptions, or
sociodemographic variables (Mayor et al., 2019). Typologies can inform comparative analysis between the process of wildmeat
trafficking in urban regions (e.g., capital city such as Brazzaville, port city such as Point) or countries with different levels of law
enforcement capacity. For example, Sollund (2019) compared law enforcement authorities from Norway and Colombia, high­
lighting capacity and efficacy measures. Typologies can enable comparative analysis of levels of crime seriousness (e.g., Wyatt
et al. (2020) explored Russian organized crime syndicates). The United Kingdom’s Home Office demonstrated how typologies
can be used when they issued a report on their creation of a typology of human trafficking offenses which informed allocation of
new operational responses; they used expert elicitation as one method of data collection for their work (Cooper et al., 2017). To
date, the conservation community has lacked such typological information. Evidence-based typologies of actors involved in
crime can be central for understanding how offenses manifest (e.g., are measured, tracked) and why offenders desist. Typologies
such as those presented herein can raise new questions that can be asked and answered, such as how different types of
offenders are recruited, to what extent is urban wildmeat trafficking driven by profit versus other drivers such as personal
gratification, to what extent is organized crime involved, or what are the main methods of control used by offenders during
exploitation and/or commission of crimes (Cooper et al., 2017).
The typologies discussed here help demonstrate the diversity of contemporary wildmeat trafficking in urban areas; this
diversity can help focus interventions so they are more precise and are more likely to achieve intended outcomes. Trafficking
can pose threats to wildlife populations and the humans that interact with them (Bachmann et al., 2019), as well as contribute
to the global criminal economy. Semantics are an important consideration for interventions being implemented the context of
crime in conservation. Illegal trade refers to criminalized acts such as drug, human and arms trafficking. Law enforcement

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authorities are ready to allocate resources to address threats to the community but are much less ready to respond to less
clearly harmful forms of illicit trade or forms that are not codified as being illegal. Many possible causes or forms of illicit trade
are not enforcement priorities; the effects of illicit trade are often underappreciated or unseen by the very people who are best
placed to respond. Criminalization is the harshest form of regulation, involving the most invasive forms of punishment and
proceedings. Many scholars (e.g., Wyatt, 2013) argue criminalization should be used in a proportionate and reasonable manner
and should be reserved for serious violations of wildlife laws. Pangolins, great apes and dwarf crocodiles are legally protected
species. It is a crime to kill, transit, or sell these species for wildmeat (or other products). The crime of interest then, is the
taking, movement, or sale of the animals or their parts. Wildlife-related crime is often not considered to be a serious crime,
although it can involve considerable harm (e.g., in the form of threats to animal welfare from being trafficked alive). Clarifying
the types of traffickers and sellers involved in the wildlife trafficking supply chain can inform intervention priorities, finding
patterns among prioritized offender types such as repeat offending (i.e., recidivism), engagement in other types of crime, and
desisting. Focusing on the most professional types of offenders is a common objective of conservation law enforcement officials
and also criminal justice professionals.
Although our study does not provide complete answers or clarifications about these important urban criminogenic points, it
does advance thinking and evidence about nuances to the illegal trade of wildlife. Specifically, this research describes the types
of stakeholders involved in the illegal urban wildmeat trade of PAC species in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, the Republic of the
Congo. These typologies offer one description of urban PAC wildmeat traffickers and sellers. This information may be used for
record keeping (e.g., prosecutions and convictions across PAC species and/or over time), better detection of PAC offenders (e.g.,
across age groups), and inform program evaluation (e.g., how the system of PAC conservation is, or is not, responding to wildlife
crime). In exploring typologies in this context, we were able to acknowledge differences across value chain geographies. It is
interesting to note heterogeneity and nuance of stakeholder typologies in trafficking and selling across wildlife species; it is also
noteworthy that the typologies enabled us to distinguish between stakeholders involved in trafficking and selling pangolin meat
versus pangolin scales. This distinction compliments, Bachmann et al. (2019), Mayor et al. (2019), van Vliet et al. (2019) and
others who have tracked market trends, supply chains, trade routes, and law enforcement seizures of African pangolins and
other species but from a different research perspective. Social and biological information can be combined and used to evaluate
regulations for efficiency (e.g., are wildlife crime regulations and guidelines sufficient to sanction the more professional of­
fender types?).
Differences in stakeholder typologies in particular may warrant additional and empirical investigation about types of people
involved because of the potential connections to the global criminal economy. For example, how are professional offenders
recruited, retained and promoted within the industry? How do different types of offenders communicate (e.g., email, SMS).
Insight into which species are associated with other criminal activities—that is, organized, professionalized or formal types of
trafficking and/or selling, can help prioritization of crime prevention (e.g., Clarke, 1980) and crime response (e.g., severity of
punishment in courts, patrol routes or schedules). Only some typologies may be relevant to transnational collaboration by law
enforcement authorities (e.g., they are unlikely to prioritize focusing their limited resources on small-scale opportunistic
stakeholders over organized and professionalized crime groups).
Our exploratory results indicate a clear distinction in the types of stakeholders involved in wildmeat trafficking through
transit and demand geographies, implying that traffickers and sellers are distinct groups of people working together in the same
illegal supply chain. There is practical utility in maintaining the conceptual distance between stakeholder typologies yet
keeping them tactically and strategically linked together. Oftentimes, extant research (and practice) in both conservation and
criminology consider separately the wildlife trafficking geographies of source, transit, and demand (e.g., Kahler and Gore, 2012,
South and Wyatt, 2011). Concomitantly considering stakeholder typologies across trafficking geographies can influence how
different sectors, law enforcement and conservation for example, devise cooperative strategies to control or prevent harms from
wildmeat trafficking. Such linkages may enable law enforcement and criminal justice authorities to differentiate (and thus
prosecute differently) between the stakeholders involved in the transit and destination geographies of PAC wildmeat trafficking
from those at the source geography. In many ways, this is a rural-to-urban challenge, not just a rural one. There may be
differential levels of involvement of gangs, drug abuse, violence, and availability of guns in urban vs. rural areas that need to be
accounted for in crime prevention. Differentiating but not stove piping stakeholders will help clarify the illegal supply chains as
well and promote thinking about new sectors to involve in interventions and solutions–particularly private industry or cor­
porations. In many instances, illegal traders are not specialized and seize targets of opportunity and use existing trade routes to
an advantage. In some instances, wildmeat trafficking converges with the legitimate economy because of the specific in­
dividuals involved in the trade. This means that illegal wildmeat trade is not always part of an informal economy but rather part
of legitimate companies’ business models and not confined to black markets. Illegal wildmeat trade is not always part of a
shadow economy (i.e., economy of goods and services not declared for tax), meaning that trade abuse could be occurring (e.g.,
abusing their role as a legitimate trader by incorporating illegal products). Trade abuse can often signal efforts to mask klep­
tocratic theft (Shelley, 2018).
Differentiations emerging from this research can help facilitate a law enforcement focus on the higher impact criminals as
opposed to the lower-level individuals who are not part of the global criminal economy and are sometimes considered to be
vulnerable populations; this focus also helps ensure human rights protections and environmental justice for vulnerable groups.
It also helps send a message to higher level criminals that they are being targeted and to local community members that they
are not automatically being treated as criminals or offenders, although changes in local community behaviour can be a desired
outcome for conservation.

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M.L. Gore, R. Mwinyihali, L. Mayet et al. Global Ecology and Conservation 27 (2021) e01557

Further refining the lists and definitions of, as well as linkages between, stakeholder typologies for illegal urban wildmeat
markets will be useful, as urbanization continues at a rapid pace in the Republic of the Congo, and elsewhere in the world. We
still lack empirically based typologies for the motivations of high-level individuals who facilitate crime through their position of
power (see Wyatt et al., 2020 for foundational insight). Tools and theories from white collar crime, perhaps once thought
unconventional for conservation, could prove relevant for such exploration (e.g., Braithwaite, 1985). As the size and wealth of
the urban populations grows, the demand for wildmeat is expected to increase. Minimizing adverse per capita impacts of cities
on resources and the living environment and supporting more positive environmental links between urban and rural areas, can
be accomplished in part through reduced wildmeat trafficking. Reducing the scope and scale of criminality associated with
wildmeat trafficking can enable better realization of sustainable development goals, such as tourism revenue from protected
areas and rural communities relying on natural resource bases for livelihoods and food security. Conservationists and law
enforcement practitioners are increasingly aware that in order to prevent conservation crime, the preventers must understand
the crime environment as least as well as the offenders, and preferably better (Cornish, 1994). Stakeholder typologies are part of
the knowledge equation for preventative interventions designed to help reduce harms from urban wildmeat trafficking.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: F16AP00865.

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