2022: Seizing the moment and expanding our reach. The Wildlife Justice Commission has been investigating the illegal exotic pet trade since 2016, with its initial focus primarily on the trafficking of orangutans from Indonesia and Malaysia, and the trafficking of turtles and tortoises (testudines) from
Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh. The Wildlife Justice Commission’s investigations into the live pet trade in 2022 led to the arrest of eight traffickers involved in the supply of live tigers and pangolins. The trafficking of endangered wildlife for the pet trade is a multi-million-dollar criminal industry that continues to grow in scale, driven by increasing global demand for rare species.
