Illegal Animal Item Seizures Rise By Millions

By Harriet Hadfield, Sky News Reporter

The number of endangered species items seized by the UK Border Force has increased tenfold during the past year.

The number of items confiscated has reached an all-time high

A total of 2.5 million illegal items were seized during the period 2012-13, compared with just under 250,000 in 2011-12.

Criminals can make millions of pounds each year from smuggled items ranging from ivory and rhino horn to trophy animals, birds of prey and species facing extinction.

Organised criminal gangs are believed to be behind the smuggling

In the last year, 3,890kg of medicinal products containing extracts from endangered species were seized, along with 326 items of ivory and 93 live endangered animals.

Other seized items included £4,000 shawls made of Tibetan antelope wool, books bound in elephant hide, a Rolls-Royce upholstered in alligator skin and a piece of artwork featuring a rare £35,000 rock pigeon clutched between the jaws of a human skull.

Senior Officer Grant Miller displays some of the items

The seizures partly reflect a crackdown on large international smuggling organisations - which are responsible for huge shipments, often by courier, of illegal goods.

Rhino horn is widely used in traditional Chinese medicines and carries huge value on the black market.

These marine turtles were among the items

Grant Miller from the UK Border Force said: "Poaching levels are unprecedentedly high, for example we are anticipating 1,000 rhinos will be slaughtered in South Africa alone next year.

"We are seeing ivory being trafficked from Africa and new products are emerging in the health and beauty industry which are using endangered species as an active ingredient in those products."

Laws prevent the trade of goods using endangered species

The penalty for importation can be up to seven years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Live endangered species are sent to zoos, farms and wildlife parks around the country.

Rachel Jones from London Zoo said: "All kinds of animals, there's huge trade in reptiles, tortoises, turtles are often confiscated, and it's extremely difficult trying to find homes for these animals.

Officials say poaching levels are 'unprecedentedly high'

"Organisations like my own become saturated."

The other items, for example furs and stuffed animals, are often donated to educational organisations.

Ivory is often used for medical research but rhino horn holds no value other than on the black market so is often burned by border officials.

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