In a successful case against wildlife crime, prosecutors in Hungary brought charges against four hunters who killed a strictly protected cinereous vulture and four common buzzards. The perpetrators were caught thanks to the GPS tracker carried by the vulture, and also to the decisive help of poison and carcass detection canine unit of Birdlife Hungary. […]
Illegal poison-baits are the most widely used method for killing predators on a global scale, a massive method of eliminating animals considered harmful to livestock or game species. It is a serious threat to biodiversity in many European countries, as shown by data from Spain where thousands of wild animals -including threatened species- are still […]
With 70 registered participants from all over Europe, on December 13th the LIFE SWiPE project organised an internal knowledge-sharing workshop among its members and colleagues outside the project’s team, to discuss the future of wildlife crime prosecution in the short and mid-term. Different challenges for the fight against wildlife crime were discussed, including the disparities […]
The SWiPE project voices its concerns over the Council’s position on the revision of the Environmental Crime Directive, joining environmental NGOs, including Birdlife, Born Free, EEB, IFAW, Eurogroup for Animals, Humane Society International, and WWF. The Justice Ministers of the EU’s Member States adopted recently their position on the revision of the Directive on the […]
Text by Lucio Biancatelli – WWF Italy / Featured image by Gruppo Guardie Volontarie WWF Italy “A report has just arrived from WWF Italy’s Antipoaching Guards: close to the city of Brescia, next to a house in an area of northern Italy, branches have been smeared with birdlime, a powerful glue where small birds, such […]
On 17-21 October 2022, a workshop on wildlife crime was held in Goniądz, Poland, by WWF Poland as part of the LIFE SWiPE project. The workshop brought together representatives from the tax and customs service, the police and the prosecutor’s office. Participants shared knowledge on, among other topics, identifying species listed in the Convention on […]
Wildlife crime is one of the leading causes of species extinction around the world. A report published by WWF Poland shows that Polish services are fighting an uphill battle against criminals. Between 2015 and 2020 alone, Polish customs officers seized more than 420,000 specimens of protected plant and animal species, and the police recorded 33,870 violations of […]
In 2022, the SWiPE project organized the first intersectorial EU Wildlife Crime Workshop in Madrid. More than 120 wildlife crime experts and law enforcement representatives from 20 countries met at the conference to exchange knowledge and improve cross-border collaboration. This report summarises the analysis and contributions provided by all the participants of the workshop to […]
Global conservation policy makers are meeting in Panama City (Panama) from November 14 – 25 on the 19th Conference of the Parties (CoP19) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The Conference, the first held in Latin America in 20 years, provides an opportunity for governments to […]
The newly revised EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking (EU-WAP) published recently by the European Commission is a critical step forward in the fight against illegal wildlife trade. Building on five years of activities implemented under the previous plan, it incorporates objectives and actions adapted to newly arising issues which will enable the EU and Member […]