Internet growing threat to wildlife

The growing trade in wildlife on the Internet in China means the battle to curb the illegal practice must be taken online, environmentalists said yesterday.

A recent six-week study by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) tracked 7,122 online auctions and advertisements involving the illegal trade in wild animals and found that the Internet is posing a major challenge to wildlife conservation, with China ranked third after the United States and the United Kingdom among 11 countries investigated with respect to volume of illegal trade.

Among the online auctions and ads, 544 took place in China.