On June 27th ENV’s Wildlife Crime Unit reported that 34 out of 108 Vietnamese bear bile advertisements were removed from the internet. These are the first results of ENV’s “Internet bear bile advertisement removal campaign,” which commenced on May 2013.
Of the 108 violations, the majority were discovered by ENV staff or reported by ENV volunteers. Such widespread advertisements pose a direct threat to Vietnam’s bear population, as it facilitates the trade in contraband bear products, and can even increase demand.
To phase out this threat the ENV Wildlife Crime Unit first confirmed each of the illegal advertisements. The advertisers were then issued formal warning letters. The website administrators were then contacted to remove the links. To prevent re-occurrences, ENV requested the administrators to not permit future wildlife advertisements to be posted.
ENV wishes to thank all the website administrators who have cooperated with us, and the volunteers who reported these violations.
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