Wildlife crime is on the rise. The UN reports that wildlife trafficking has increased in recent years and is valued at up to $23 billion. In addition to posing severe harm to biodiversity and the environment, wildlife crime is also “a growing threat to natural resources, peace, development and security,” according to the UN.
Whistleblower awards remain a vastly underutilized tool in the United States’ efforts to crack down on wildlife trafficking and poaching. Exclusive reporting by Whistleblower Network News reveals whistleblowers’ critical role in successful enforcement actions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) over the past four years.
Documents obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveal that from 2019 to 2022, more than twenty whistleblowers, incentivized by the potential of a whistleblower award, came forward and disclosed wildlife crimes. These whistleblower disclosures allowed FWS to hold wrongdoers accountable for crimes that otherwise would have gone undetected.
For example, in 2016, FWS officials busted an ongoing interstate trafficking scheme of endangered Wood Turtles. FWS agents report that: “It is highly unlikely that [the Office of Law Enforcement (OLE)] would have initiated this investigation or that the investigation would have had a successful outcome, had it not been for [the whistleblower] bringing the unlawful scheme to the attention of OLE and continuing to provide information throughout the investigation.”
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