Live Animals Openly Traded on Open Web: Australian Research

The lizards detected in the seizure. Australian Government Department of Home Affairs

Animals, plants, fungi, and their parts are being routinely traded on the dark web, mostly for use as drugs or medicine, with e-commerce marketplaces, private forums, and messaging apps making the process easier, according to new university research.

Australia has nearly 900 native reptile species, of which over 90 percent cannot be found anywhere else.

Each year, hundreds of native reptiles–including blue-tongue lizards and water dragons–are smuggled by mail to overseas markets, according to a 2021 investigative story by Australian Geographic.

“According to data from the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment (DAWE), almost 90 percent of all animals seized by authorities between 2018 and 2019 were reptiles,” the article read.

“Authorities and conservationists agree the real number of animals being traded is likely to be much higher than what is currently being detected.”

Research Into Online Animal Trade

To see if wildlife was being traded online, researchers from the University of Adelaide in South Australia conducted a wide-ranging study, which was published in the British Ecological Society journal People and Nature.

Using a database of more than 50 dark web marketplaces, the research team, led by Dr Phill Cassey from the Invasion Science and Wildlife Ecology Lab at the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute, identified 153 species being traded.

“While we did find small numbers of animals traded, the vast majority of advertisements were for plants and fungi,” Cassey said. “Most plants were advertised for their use as drugs, often as psychedelics, but some for their purported medicinal properties.

An entrance of the University of Adelaide was taken on Aug. 2018. Screenshot/Google Maps

“Fungi and animals were also traded for use as drugs, including the infamous Colorado River toad, which is known for its ability to exude toxins from glands within its skin that have psychoactive properties.

“While wildlife is being commonly traded on the dark web, it is mostly for use as drugs and medicine, and not for other related trafficking crimes—for example, live exotic pets.

“This is important for understanding threats to biodiversity (unsustainable harvesting of wildlife) and biosecurity (illegal transport of pests, weeds, and diseases) across international borders.”

Animals Traded on Open Web

Cassey said as a general rule, most live animals, including exotic species, were still being openly traded on the open (e-commerce marketplaces) and deep web (private forums and messaging apps), not even the dark web.

“This means that regular surveillance and enforcement can prioritise these areas of the internet,” he said.

“However, if conditions change in the future, and it becomes harder to sell wildlife openly online, then it remains plausible that a broader variety of wildlife will turn up on the dark web,

“The legality of online trade is complicated and depends on many factors, including the laws of the country or countries involved, and whether the final sale even occurred.”

Cassey’s research team has been collecting data on the trade of wildlife in Australia from more than 100 websites and internet forums since 2019.

Australia is one of 184 signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as CITES, helping to protect endangered wildlife from international trade.