Vietnam grapples with ‘alarming popularity’ of online illegal wildlife trade

A new investigation by wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC has uncovered an “alarming” slew of online adverts offering illegal wildlife products for sale in Vietnam, despite pledges from multiple platforms to clamp down on such content.

The report, based on monitoring of social media groups and e-commerce platforms in Vietnam between June 2021 and July 2023, focuses on items made from body parts of elephants, rhinos, pangolins, tigers, tortoises and freshwater turtles.

Researchers identified 22,497 online posts by sellers based in Vietnam that overtly advertised products related to these species, with elephant ivory and tiger products each accounting for more than one-third of the total adverts. The authors note the actual number of items will be much higher, since the opacity of online groups curtailed the team’s ability to monitor the full range of adverts.

The brazen availability of products from threatened and protected species confirms the “continued alarming popularity” for such products in Vietnam, according to the report. “The consistent prevalence of wildlife trade online could suggest a persistent demand, requiring considerable effort to alter social values and discourage illegal wildlife-based purchases,” the report says.

Most of the listings were aimed at buyers looking for animal-based traditional medicines, exotic pets, wild meat, and jewelry and other decorative curios. The researchers also uncovered an emerging trend for products not previously seen for sale online, such as glues made from ivory and rhino horn, as well as products made from elephant skin, hair, bones and teeth.

The research team also found 23 of the 26 species of tortoise and freshwater turtles native to Vietnam advertised online, mainly as pets and for their meat. This included critically endangered species protected under Vietnam’s wildlife laws and listed on CITES, the international wildlife trade convention, such as elongated tortoises (Indotestudo elongata), Indochinese box turtles (Cuora galbinifrons), and yellow-headed temple turtles (Heosemys annandalii).

A major hurdle facing law enforcers is the relative anonymity of online transactions and the range of tactics sellers use to avoid detection algorithms. Tracking the digital footprints of traffickers can turn into a game of whack-a-mole, for instance, whereby suspect traders quickly reemerge in new social media groups or platforms after their accounts have been deactivated elsewhere. Sellers also increasingly use newly coined code words, slang phrases or emoticons in listings to evade tracking systems.

Another emerging challenge identified in the report is a new trend for wildlife-derived “glues” containing mixtures of threatened species, such as tigers, rhinos, seahorses and geckos. These products — often advertised as having perceived, but medically unproven, health benefits — are particularly onerous for law enforcement, according to Nga Thuy Bui, senior program manager at TRAFFIC Vietnam.

“When multiple species are combined in a single product, it becomes technically challenging to identify all components, especially if they’ve been heavily processed,” she told Mongabay in an email. “This can make it challenging [for] the police to build a case.”

The vogue for processed wildlife-derived products also heightens the chances of consumers unwittingly buying illegal wildlife products that are contributing to the demise of species in the wild.

Raising awareness about the risks of engaging in the online wildlife trade is crucial, the authors note. The trade in elephants, rhinos, pangolins, tigers and their products is prohibited or heavily regulated under several laws and decrees in Vietnam. Several national e-commerce laws also make it illegal to advertise and trade products such as ivory and rhino horn online. What’s more, in 2018, authorities raised the penalty for trading CITES-listed species to carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

The new evidence that online buyers and sellers continue to operate openly, seemingly with little fear of repercussions, indicates more measures are needed to control the trade, said Nga Thuy Bui. “Social media platforms and law enforcement should formalize their cooperation to strengthen detection and investigation efforts,” she said, noting these improvements would enable agencies to build stronger criminal cases that could lead to prosecutions.

The researchers uncovered some evidence that tighter moderation of online content can help. Facebook and Zalo were found to be the main platforms linked with the trade. However, the number of adverts posted on Zalo dropped significantly toward the end of the study period, the report says, coinciding with the platform’s implementation of a “community policy” that involved locking accounts associated with the illegal wildlife trade. The Zalo dip was, however, accompanied by a spike in adverts on Facebook — a pattern the authors attribute to traffickers switching to less scrupulous platforms.

The report also calls on traditional medicine traders and practitioners in Vietnam to report protected species products to authorities and remove them from their practices. The authors also urge NGOs and civil society organizations to hold companies and government agencies accountable for their commitments to curb the trade, such as an October 2024 government-mandated order instructing social media and e-commerce platforms operating in Vietnam to report online illegal wildlife trade violations.

Nga Thuy Bui said the persistence and rapidly evolving nature of the online illegal wildlife trade means tracking user trends and emerging markets that stoke demand is also an essential part of the solution. She said TRAFFIC is looking into “social listening” tools to help monitor the online sales of certain species in addition to its routine use of market surveys, research papers, media reports and seizure data to monitor the trade.

By Carolyn Cowan – Mongabay.com – January 27, 2025