For Wildlife, the Web Is a Treacherous Place - New York Times

~~ The Internet does not kill elephants.

People kill elephants using the Internet for sales. ~~ TP

For Wildlife, the Web Is a Treacherous Place - New York Times

August 22, 2005

For Wildlife, the Web Is a Treacherous Place
By BOB TEDESCHI

IS the Internet hastening the demise of the African elephant?

According to one advocacy group for endangered species, it is. And the group says the growing online trade in live animals and animal parts is threatening scores of other wild creatures as well, from the cotton-top tamarin of Colombia, a monkey whose numbers in the wild have dwindled to fewer than 2,500, to the Tibetan antelope, whose numbers in the last half-century have declined to about 75,000, from more than 500,000.

In a report released last week after a three-month investigation, the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Yarmouth Port, Mass., said it had found more than 6,000 illegal or potentially illegal wildlife items for sale online, including a hawksbill turtle shell for $102 and an elephant-bone sculpture for $18,000.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/technology/22ecom.html

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