30 | New Scientist | 17 July 2021
Podcast
Wild Crimes
Natural History Museum, LondonTHERE is no shortage of criminal
activity in the natural world –
and it shows no sign of letting up.
Wildlife crime generates up to
$23 billion in profits annually,
according to conservation group
the Environmental Investigation
Agency, making it one of the most
lucrative illicit activities on Earth.
Wild Crimes, a new 10-part
podcast series by the Natural
History Museum in London,
delves into the origins and
workings of the illegal wildlife
trade. It reveals some shocking
and at times uncomfortable
truths, while exploring solutions
through conversations with a
range of experts and other guests.
Hosts Tori Herridge, an
evolutionary biologist at the
museum, and Khalil Thirlaway,
a science communicator, explore
some of the biggest and most
nefarious wildlife crimes – from
the ivory trade and eel smuggling
across Europe to the sale of
orchids on the black market.
The first episode features
arguably the most iconic poster
child for the illegal wildlife trade:
the pangolin. With 100,000 of
these mammals smuggled into
South-East Asia every year,
pangolins are the world’s most
trafficked animal, and the demand
for their scales and meat is
pushing them to the brink so fast
that some species could even
go extinct within a decade.
Pangolins are “the most
charismatic, harmless and
magical spiritual creatures you’ll
ever experience,” Ray Jansen at
Tshwane University of Technology
in South Africa tells Thirlaway. “It’s
frightening at what levels they’reProfiting from nature
The big-money, murky world of wildlife crime is the subject
of a new podcast series. Gege Li listens inpoached and being abused.”
Episode two casts a light on
the trade of exotic reptiles as pets,
in particular the chameleons of
Tanzania, which are among the
most popular choices for buyers.
Despite that nation enforcing a
blanket ban on all wildlife exports
in 2016, this hasn’t been enough
to put the brakes on the conveyor
belt of species leaving the country
under the radar.Views Culture
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AMYsays Michele Menegon, co-
director of PAMS, aTanzania-based
conservation foundation,.
That makes tackling wildlife
trafficking a complicated and
complex issue, and it isn’t just
about stopping the poachers on
the ground, some of whom are
simply “victims of circumstance”,
as Menegon puts it. The fight can
only be won with a comprehensive
approach that involves, for
example, aligning national and
international regulations on
wildlife trade and encouraging
people to be ambassadors for
threatened species.The more off-the-cuff
segments, in which Herridge
and Thirlaway digest what they
have learned, pose stimulating
questions, even if they are
sometimes a little predictable.
But where Wild Crimes is best is
when the passion for protecting
the animals and plants at risk
rings out. For example, hearing
the two coo in one episode over a
video of baby pangolin Tot (her
mother, Tayta, was found in a bag
of potatoes) is not only a heart-
warming boost for the spirits after
a sombre first half, it also serves as
a reminder of the simple joy and
beauty of nature – and why it is
so important to protect it.
“The amount of love for
pangolins that I’ve felt from
everyone I’ve spoken to in this
episode has really been a source
of hope,” says Thirlaway in the
first instalment of the series. ❚Gege Li is a science journalist
based in LondonNews and images of exotic
reptiles online only serve to
perpetuate this demand. We hear
from one regretful owner of a
panther chameleon, a striking
native of Madagascar, who comes
to realise how bad it really is to
keep these animals as pets. One
shocking statistic says that some
30 per cent of wild animals sold
as pets die within the first year.
“I think that the key thing is
that we are dealing with living
animals, but for many people
they’re just an object of business –
and business is perfectly shaped to
do things in a very efficient way,”A smuggled pangolin
rescued by Indonesian
conservationists and
ivory seized in Kenya“ One shocking statistic
says that some 30 per
cent of wild animals
sold as pets die within
the first year”