A new study quantifies the impact of poaching in the United States\u2014 the results show that an eye-popping number of wildlife crimes are not being detected, let alone successfully prosecuted.<\/p>\n
The research comes from the Boone and Crockett Club, which is both a big game record-keeping group and the oldest wildlife conservation organization in North America. The Boone and Crockett Club invested heavily in its \u201cPoach and Pay\u201d project, which it called \u201cthe most comprehensive research project on poaching in this country\u201d in a recent press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the main focuses of the study was developing a statistics-based estimate of the \u201cdark figure\u201d of wildlife crimes. A \u201cdark figure\u201d is a term for the proportion of crimes that are undetected and unreported. For instance, criminologists estimate that 51% of robberies are undetected.<\/p>\n Developing accurate \u201cdark figures\u201d is a difficult task because it involves quantifying something that is, by nature, unknown. In this case, the Boone and Crocket Club worked with researchers at the Wildlife Management Institute to come up with a statistically sound estimate. Researchers then used a Bayesian analysis, which Jonathan Gassett, southern field representative for the Wildlife Management Institute, told MeatEater is \u201can evidence-updating model that takes what you already believed, adds new information, and gives you a sharper, more realistic picture of the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n In this case, researchers started with two initial models, one used a professional estimate of a 5% dark figure, and the other co-opted the dark figure for larceny (theft without confrontation or breaking and entering), which is around 24%. Those models were then run against six studies on wildlife crime detection rates that factored in citation rates for illegal take, ratio of known illegal take to legal take, officer coverage area, the number of licensed hunters in the state, and also included illegal take data from 28 radio telemetry studies on big game from across the U.S.\u00a0Then, researchers ran their models against additional information from self-reported surveys of wardens, landowners, hunters, and even some people who admitted to committing wildlife infractions. Finally, they averaged the outputs of all the models they ran.<\/p>\n The number that the researchers came up with is stark. According to the results of the study, only 3.92% of wildlife crimes are being detected. \u201cWe have long known that poaching is a major problem in the United States, but\u00a0we didn\u2019t truly understand the magnitude of the problem until this Poach and Pay research,\u201d said Boone and Crockett Club CEO Tony A. Schoonen in a recent press conference. \u201cWith this defensible assessment of the Dark Figure, we can clearly describe the conservation cost of poaching and prove that poaching is not a victimless crime\u2014not only do we lose individual wildlife, we are also losing a valuable public resource with a high cost.\u201d<\/p>\n In sum, the researchers estimated that the annual \u201creplacement cost\u201d of animals illegally taken is $1.13 billion nationwide, and the lost fine money is $302.6 million. The numbers are particularly staggering when you consider that annual hunting license sales nationwide hover around $1 billion.<\/p>\n \u201cPoachers are stealing from all of us, whether you hunt or not,\u201d said Schoonen. \u201cThis is a theft of a public resource.\u201d<\/p>\n