Jadyn Brosnikoff

Com St 1A
6/30/23 @11:10

Wildlife Trade
(1164)
Introduction
I. A twelve-year-old boy, born and raised in the city of Tyler, Texas, began to learn about
hunting for the first time. He soon became fascinated with the idea of killing animals,
specifically, big whitetail deer. Entering adulthood, this fascination became an obsession leading
to 22 years of poaching where he single-handedly poached 116 trophy-class whitetail deer across
the state of Texas. He had worked as a taxidermist while secretly living the life of an outlaw
hunter, poaching hundreds of deer and other animals under the noses of Texas Parks and Wildlife
game wardens. This poacher’s name is Charles Robert Beaty, also known as the Prince of
Poachers.

II. According to the University of Sheffield (chef field), published February 15, 2021, the
research of international scientists found declines of over 80% in endangered species and over
60% in the abundance of species as a result of both legal and illegal wildlife trade. This leads to
at least 100 million animals and plants being trafficked each year, being the biggest drivers of
species extinction.

III. Today we are going to learn about the wildlife trade.

IV. We will be covering what the wildlife trade is, the causes of this issue, along with the
impacts it has on the animal population.

Body
I. We will begin with defining what wildlife trade is and where it is mainly focused.
A. As reported by Chia-Yi Hou, a health and science journalist, published August 15,
2019, wildlife trade or also known as wildlife trafficking is any illegal sale or exchange of dead
or alive wild animals and plants. This trade is known as the third largest illegal trade following
behind the use of illegal drugs and weapons. For this reason, the wildlife population is
decreasing dramatically, experiencing an extinction crisis leading to many animals becoming
extinct in the coming decades.
B. According to the World Wildlife Fund, last accessed June 30, 2023, there are certain
areas in the world where the trade of wildlife is extremely threatening and these areas are known
as the “wildlife trade hotspots”. Some of these certain areas include the countries of China,
Africa, Asia, the European Union, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Indonesia.
Now, set aside from these certain areas, the well-known illegal wildlife trade is the skins
and hides of giraffes and crocodiles, the poaching of elephants for ivory, and tigers for their skin
and bones. The meat of these animals is also in demand, the rarer the animal, the greater people’s
desire to eat it.

Transition: Now that you know what the wildlife trade is and where it’s based, let’s go into the
causes of this issue.

II. There are several causes that contribute to wildlife trade including economic incentives, high
profit margins, luxury goods and fashion, exotic pets, and demand for traditional medicine,
however, I want to focus on two of these causes.
A. The first is the high-profit margins. Using one of my previous sources, World Wildlife
Fund, last accessed June 30, 2023, the illegal wildlife trade is driven by the high-profit margins
in which these prices pay for the rare species people want. This is then causing wild animals to
be put on the edge of extinction and nature is unfortunately unable to provide the necessary
needs to maintain the rate of human consumption.
B. This leads me to the second cause, demand driving crime. Again, using World
Wildlife Fund, last accessed June 30, 2023, the demand for wildlife products, such as ivory,
rhino horns, and exotic pets is a significant driver of criminal activities related to wildlife trade
and creates a lucrative illegal market. Wildlife trade causes an imbalance in local economies,
which then are impacting local communities.

Transition: Following behind the causes come the ending impacts.

III. The impacts wildlife trade has on the animal population, particularly when conducted
illegally or unsustainably, has a range of significant effects on ecosystems, species, and
communities. While there are many key effects, I have decided to focus on two.
A. The first one is the interruption of nature. According to EuroGroup for Animals, last
accessed June 30, 2023, protecting intact ecosystems and ensuring the sustainable use of wildlife
resources is essential for maintaining the integrity and functioning of nature. Overexploitation of
species affects the living planet in wider ways. Just as overfishing causes imbalances in the
whole marine system, our complex web of life on Earth depends on the careful and thoughtful
use of wildlife species and their habitats.
B. The second effect relates to invasive species. According to the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, published in September 2019, the trafficking of wildlife is able to diminish
a species’ population along with causing local or even global extinction. Wildlife traders or
buyers have purposely introduced many invasive species. These invasive species prey on or
compete with native species and are a major threat to the balance of nature.

Conclusion
I. Today we learned about wildlife trade.
II. We covered the topics of what the wildlife trade is, its causes along with its effects on the
animal population.
III. It is sad to know that legal and illegal wildlife trade results in the decline of over 60% in the
abundance of species and over 80% in endangered species. Now you may be asking yourself,
why should I care, or how is this relevant to nonanimal lovers, well I am glad you asked that
question in your head because, as you should know by the end of my presentation, wildlife
trafficking is a grave concern for biodiversity, but it also hurts local economies and the overall
human health. Many local communities worldwide rely on wildlife tourism as a primary source
of income, and the loss of wildlife directly would lead to a decrease in tourism, causing a ripple
effect that impacts restaurants, hotels, and other sources of livelihood for local community
members. International wildlife trade directly leads to increased zoonotic pandemics and
infectious diseases. Wet markets, known as the live animal markets where wildlife is sold in
urban settings, are the breeding grounds for zoonotic diseases. The zoonotic disease is what most
likely caused the Coronavirus outbreak. Consuming infected bushmeat can also transmit diseases
to humans, so stopping wildlife trafficking and trade is necessary to prevent the next global
pandemic.
IV. Now coming back to Charles' story, this Prince of Poachers had written his own
unforgettable true-life outlaw-hunting adventure story. Recalling all of his close calls with
wardens and ranch security, taking many different friends on outlaw hunts, setting his record of
11, 16, and 27-day outlaw hunts, and somehow always making it out alive. However, one day, he
turned his life around, when he got back into the church, and realized everything in his life was
wrong. Charles knew nothing about his life was right with God. He had stopped poaching, for he
felt no urge to kill anymore and even turned in all of his deer heads. For someone who had dug
himself such a deep hole and to be able to climb out of it is definitely life-changing.

References
EuroGroup for Animals. (n.d). Wildlife trade and trafficking. Retrieved June 30, 2023, from
https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/what-we-do/areas-of-concern/wildlife-trade-and-
trafficking

Hou, C. (2019, August 15). Wildlife trade 101. Retrieved from

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/wildlife-trade101#:~:text=Stopping%20Wildlife
%20Crime-,What%20Is%20Wildlife%20Trade%3F,the%20products%20derived
%20from%20them.
Morton, O. (2021, February, 15). University of Sheffield. Retrieved from
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/wildlife-trade-drives-declines-over-60-species-
abundance-according-new-research

World Wildlife Fund. (n.d). Illegal wildlife trade. Retrieved June 23, 2023, from
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/illegal-wildlife-trade

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2019, September). Implications of wildlife
trafficking. Retrieved from
https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/wildlife-crime/module-1/key-issues/implications-of-
wildlife-trafficking.html