Authorities in Oregon are trying a new tactic to address wildlife trafficking—sentencing traffickers to participate in wildlife crime research.
It was exactly 16 minutes into the Zoom meeting before the topic of Yuan Xie’s parole officer came up.“I don’t know how often we’re supposed to check in with your parole officer, but I think we should be able to show we’re making good progress,” wildlife crime expert Meredith Gore told Xie, who’s collaborating with her on a research project studying the illegal wildlife trade online.
“I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to make this a part of the sentence,” says Pam Paaso, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Xie’s case. She says Fish and Wildlife Special Agent Paul Monturoi had suggested the idea to her. “I think it’s great to look deeper into root causes, to understand why people are doing these kinds of things so we can prevent it in the future,” Paaso says.
Exactly what academic researchers and law enforcement will learn from this approach, and how it will be applied to future crime prevention or interdiction policy, is unclear so far. But, Gore says, “I’m seeing much more about motivations, attitudes, behaviors, and just the emotions of it all.” A third Oregon-based trafficker, Darren Dennis Drake pleaded guilty in March to illegally importing and exporting hundreds of live scorpions from Germany. On June 22, he was sentenced to two years’ probation, 250 hours of community service—which include working with Meredith Gore—and a $5,000 fine.Gore and her graduate students or other research collaborators typically meet weekly for hour-long Zoom sessions with the offenders to learn from their experiences.
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