Smaller species are easier to smuggle, so they’re often targeted first.

Smaller species are easier to smuggle, so they’re often targeted first.

Authorities later discovered 14 boxes containing more plants at the guest cottage where Cardona and Gonzalez were staying. In total, they had 2,248 plants, which they’d collected throughout the Northern Cape Province, southern Namibia, and the northern parts of the Western Cape Province, estimated to be worth $100,000.

The couple entered into a plea bargain agreement and were sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, which was suspended to five years with a further fine of $150,000—the highest sentence ever handed down for flora crime in the Western Cape.

In an interview at his office near Cape Town, Paul Gildenhuys, head of theCapeNature Biodiversity Crime Unit, explained that this case merely hints at the vast global exotic plant and animal trade and spoke about the challenges he faces in dealing with the smuggling problem.

What is biodiversity crime?

A lot of people think that biodiversity crime is only about elephants and rhinos, but it involves the illegal trade in all plants and animals. The trade is worth billions of dollars every year—the second biggest illicit industry in the world. It can involve anything from animal meat, to bones, plants, insects, reptiles, horns, and of course ivory.

What are some of the smaller species that are targeted?

We’ve basically reached the stage where everything that walks, creeps, crawls, and flies is collected. But the smaller species are easier to smuggle, so they’re often targeted first. There’s no limit on what could go. Some reptile species in South Africa—such as dwarf adders—are highly prized among collectors.

Insects are a big trade—worth millions of dollars a year!

In 2012, we caught poachers with a huge haul of tiger snakes, geckos, berg adders, house snakes, and horned adders. We also caught another group recently with 88,000 Protea flowers.

Tortoises, lizards, snakes, and plants are easy to put in bags or courier out of the country. Insects, for instance, can fit in your bag while you just walk through the airport.

Insects?

Insects are a big trade—worth millions of dollars a year! Colophons, also known as Cape Stag Beetles, only occur in the mountains of the Western Cape Province and are highly sought after by collectors, who are willing to pay top dollar to have the beetles in their collection.

In 2004, we caught a group of beetle experts with 232 colophon beetles. They’re world experts and had actually written a book on beetles of Europe and northern Africa. They even had a species named after them.

Who are these poachers, and why do they do it?

Broadly, the biodiversity poachers that we find fall into three categories: scientists or researchers; professional traders; and syndicates.

The scientists are often well educated, well equipped, and well resourced. I’m talking about professors and doctors in universities who have internationally acclaimed certificates for their contribution to conservation, and then we catch them doing this.

We caught one doctor from Japan who specialized in dwarf aloes, poaching them in the Western Cape Province, and another doctor from Germany who was a world expert in orchids.The professional pet traders collect to sell. That is their full-time job. These guys are like vacuum cleaners. It doesn’t matter how big or small the lizard is, they’ll take it because it’s good money.

The professional pet traders collect to sell. These guys are like vacuum cleaners.

 They will travel to various international biodiversity hotspots like Australia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Brazil, and Indonesia. They usually go there for less than ten days—in and out. They’re international smugglers. That’s all they do.

The syndicate operators are like drug mules. They’re paid a fee to come here, harvest, and then leave the country. They don’t have specialized knowledge like the scientists and hobbyists. If they’re caught, they’re abandoned to their fate in the legal system.

Where are the plants and animals taken to?

They’re sold in markets overseas—in Europe and Asia. That’s where a majority of the stuff goes, and that’s where the big buyers are. The poachers sell the plants and animals in trade markets or advertise the stuff online, where anybody can access it.

What more could be done on an international level to stop biodiversity crime? Does the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) assist your work?

Well, CITES only regulates for the import and export of wildlife between countries, so it doesn’t have a direct role in law enforcement within a country.

But fortunately some of South Africa’s provincial legislation is written in such a way that if you’re in possession of a species listed as endangered or protected under CITES—or even if you bring such a species into the country from another country—and you don’t have a permit, you can be charged accordingly.

It’s important that countries include CITES in their legislation so that the global movement of wildlife can be enforced anywhere.