Telephoning Fish: An Examination of the Creative Deviance Used by Wildlife Violators in the United States

Abstract

Wildlife poachers throughout the world have developed innovative techniques to commit their crimes and evade arrest by law enforcement. By taking advantage of technological advances as well as legitimate wildlife management practices, the poachers are able to participate in what Machalek (1988, 1995) refer to as expropriative crime strategies. This paper documents specific non-conventional poaching techniques used as reported by 22 self-reported poachers, 14 wildlife law enforcement agents and 2 non-poaching hunters who were wildlife crime witnesses. The data, collected in semi-formal interviews, also present the different perceptions of poaching frequency and methods by both criminals and law enforcement officers.

Rule-breaking in terrestrial protected areas of sub-Saharan Africa: A review of drivers, deterrent measures and implications for conservation

“…At a time where there is a growing recognition for the need of using conservation expenditure efficiently by prioritising conservation efforts based on the best available evidence (Rytwinski et al, 2021), such routine investments can be wasteful or even produce enduring counter-productive results. For example, rule-breakers can become innovative when performing specific wildlife crimes, i.e., creative deviance (Green, 2011;Knapp, 2012;Arias, 2015). This mismatch between a PA's circumstances and management strategies is shown by the Kibale NP case were the introduction of a mobile clinic with the hope to lower poaching was not effective (Kirumira et al, 2019).…”

Electrofishing as a potential threat to freshwater cetaceans

“…Carcass recovery and investigations of the causes of dolphin mortality have been carried out in the Mekong in southern Laos and Cambodia since the early to mid 1990s (Baird & Mounsouphom 1994, 1997, Gilbert & Beasley 2005, WWF & FiA 2014, 2017. The presence of external net marks with no internal lesions and full stomachs is almost always interpreted to indicate gillnet entanglement as the cause of death.…”

Game warden perceptions of change in conservation law enforcement

“…The loss of wildlife resources to poaching is a common problem in contemporary society, both nationally and internationally (Blevins and Edwards, 2009; Crow et al ., 2013; Filteau, 2012; Green, 2011; Moreto and Lemieux, 2015). However, in comparison with their traditional police officer counterparts, relatively little research has been directed toward the study of conservation law enforcement officers who enforce natural resource laws (Shelley and Crow, 2009; Thomas et al ., 1999; Warchol and Kapla, 2012).…”