Is listing an animal as endangered making it a target for poachers?

Recently I was reading an article in my favourite magazine — Scientific American — about how endangered species are sold on the black market.

Apparently poachers often use official lists of endangered species as a sort of shopping list — clamoring for these extra rare animals for illegal pet collectors and zoos.

A perfect example is of the Javan hawk eagle found in Indonesia on the island of Java in its increasingly scarce forests. These birds went almost entirely unnoticed before they were put on the endangered species list in 1993. Since then they’ve become quite a popular bird — zoos want them, collectors want them, and more than 30 have been spotted in Indonesian markets, illegally, since.

Ironically, by listing animals as endangered and rare we’re making them a target; pets, meals, or worse yet — hunting trophies. It’s everywhere, too. Just this year, in fact, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) got involved in a four-year covert operation to catch poachers and collections red handed in a project called “Operation Shellshock” where they were specifically looking out for illegal trading of lizards, turtles, frogs, and snakes. It was successful in finding more than 400 animals including poisonous snakes and endangered turtles — 26 people were arrested.

So what do we do? Stop listing which animals are endangered?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter — leave me a comment!

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