Wildlife

WWF's works around the world to stabilize and increase populations of WWF's priority species – and at the same time, deliver broader conservation goals as well as social equity and improved livelihoods for the rural poor.

This includes working with our many partners to:

• Protect, manage, and/or restore essential habitats, as well as provide connectivity and corridors between habitats

• Reduce local and global threats such as unsustainable wildlife trade, poaching, human-wildlife conflict, and incidental bycatch and climate change.

• Stimulate and strengthen national, regional, and international policy and funding for species conservation, that is integrated with biome approaches as well as development and poverty reduction programmes

• Empower local communities to conserve species and achieve long-term sustainable management of natural resources.

Over the past five decades, WWF's field work has helped bring black, white, and greater one-horned rhinos, certain populations of African elephants, mountain gorillas, Giant Pandas and Amur tigers back from the brink of extinction.

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I LLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE

Stopping the illegal wildlife trade is one of the most important and urgent parts of our work to protect threatened wildlife.

Hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens are illegally traded internationally each year.

There’s been an unprecedented growth in illegal wildlife trade across the world in recent years, which is threatening to overturn decades of conservation successes. Especially for iconic animals like rhinos, elephants and tigers. It has heavily depleted some populations and has brought others to the verge of extinction.

The numbers are horrifying: around 20,000 African elephants are killed by poachers each year. And in South Africa, rhino poaching has increased by more than, 8,900 since 2007. It's not only flagship species that are at risk; illegal trafficking in both live and dead specimens – whether for pets, medicines, trophies, food or other purposes – threatens a huge range of wildlife.

International issues need to be addressed on an international level.That’s why CITES is so important. It’s a UN-backed agreement between governments to ensure international trade in wild animals and plants doesn’t threaten their survival.

In 2014 we launched the WWF and TRAFFIC Wildlife Crime Initiative. It’s a long term collaboration to tackle the global poaching and illegal trade crisis, building on the momentum and high level political will generated by our effective illegal wildlife trade campaign in 2012-2013. Our core focuses are: stopping poaching and trafficking, reducing demand by changing consumer behaviour (especially in parts of Asia where demand is highest), influencing international policies, and tackling illegal wildlife trade here in the UK.

ENDANGERED SPICES

• Bottlenose dolphines

Bottlenose dolphins are generally social creatures that live in groups called ‘pods’, which can contain hundreds of individuals. They sometimes hunt in

groups with other dolphins too. By producing clicking sounds and interpreting the returning echoes (‘echo-

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location’) dolphins can tell the size, shape and speed of objects underwater – that’s how they catch fish, squid and other food. Threats to dolphins include accidental capture in fishing gear – known as ‘bycatch’ – and also pollution, shipping and other risks at sea. Dolphins play an important role in keeping their environment in balance. They

eat other animals – mainly fish and squid – and are themselves a source of food for some sharks and other creatures. Without dolphins, the animals they prey on would increase in number, and their predators wouldn’t have as much to eat. This would disrupt the natural balance

in the food chain and could negatively affect other wildlife and the health of the ocean environment. By protecting dolphins we’re helping look after our oceans – and that’s good for all the wildlife and billions of people who depend on the sea.