ACAMS Today sat down with Dr. Chloe Hatten and Dr. Astrid Andersson, postdoctoral researchers at the University of Hong Kong, for World Wildlife Day 2025. Dr. Hatten is  focusing on wildlife trade issues in Hong Kong from a conservation genetic and forensic research approach. She is a wildlife trade specialist working in Hong Kong on the many species that are threatened with illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade. She has more than 10 years of biological research experience focusing on marine and tropical biology and human-wildlife interactions. In addition, she works in the University of Hong Kong’s Conservation Forensics Laboratory (CFL). Much of her research has been related to wildlife conservation issues such as biodiversity loss, endangered species, human-wildlife interactions and the illegal wildlife trade. Hatten’s work employs tools ranging from market trade monitoring, DNA wildlife forensics, conservation genetics, morphology and spatial modeling.

Dr. Astrid Andersson applies scientific tools to combat wildlife crime and has been facilitating the use of microchip technology to protect animals at risk of illegal trapping in national parks. Her postdoctoral research at the university leverages genomics to understand the trade routes through which Hong Kong’s urban cockatoos were introduced to the city. She has spent more than 10 years working with multiple counter-trafficking nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and in the CFL, which has enabled her to become familiar with Hong’s Kong’s legal and illegal wildlife trades—as well as the grey area between the two—and how to galvanize interdisciplinary collaboration to mitigate wildlife crime among academics, NGOs, government and the private sector. Her work also encompasses urban ecology research and promoting human-wildlife coexistence in Asian megacities.

At the CFL, Dr. Hatten and Dr. Andersson conducted their Ph.D.s on two species of critically endangered birds: the helmeted hornbill and the yellow-crested cockatoo. ACAMS Today spoke to Dr. Hatten and Dr. Andersson about the current state of global wildlife trafficking.

ACAMS Today (AT): What drew you to the field of research on wildlife, specifically the illegal trade of endangered wildlife?

Chloe Hatten (CH): I have always wanted to explore and understand the natural world around me, and the more I’ve learned from it, the more I’ve been fascinated by it, and I have been driven to protect it and wanted to share this with others. But when I arrived in Hong Kong, coming from London almost a decade ago, I was genuinely surprised by the amount of wildlife consumed, the lack of environmental sustainability across the city and the knowledge gaps in understanding the wildlife trade here. During my time working and then conducting my Ph.D. in the CFL at the University of Hong Kong, I had some amazing opportunities to travel across Southeast Asia for wildlife forensic workshops and field work in tropical forests across places like Malaysia and Thailand. I have always been very impact-focused, and I saw an opportunity to do that with both wildlife traded through this city and those native to this city. Since being in this field, I have studied many species—from sharks and groupers to hornbills and cockatoos—using a variety of tools and methods to help answer questions about their trade. But my real interest lies in bridging the gap between science and society. We’re the ones driving these issues, so we’re also the solution to the same issues. I love sharing knowledge on wildlife and trade issues with the public, in schools, through art and through more structured means such as organizing conferences, workshops and talks for both professionals and academics. We’ve all got a responsibility to be aware of our personal impact and what we can do within our means, i.e., jobs, finances, interests and communities.

Astrid Andersson (AA): When I started working on wildlife trade issues approximately 15 years ago, I did so because I had this nagging feeling that the daily wildlife exploitation we participate in was not sustainable and was largely unregulated. For example, can we really be extracting such a high volume of fish out of the sea for an unlimited number of decades without it having consequences? So, I started applying all the skills I had—communication, creativity, enthusiasm—to spread awareness on illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade. Now, as a career biologist and conservationist, I can tell you definitively that my nagging feeling was right. It is no exaggeration to say that the wild areas of our planet will be bereft of much charismatic megafauna—rhino, sharks, pangolins—and lesser-known traded wildlife (e.g., species of turtles, songbirds, sea cucumber). Unless we all collectively do what we can and lend our skills to end the rampant, unsustainable and illegal trade in wildlife, much of which is nonessential, traded as luxury food, ornaments or exotic pets.

AT: What is the most pressing issue related to illegal wildlife trafficking facing the world today?

CH and AA: This is not an easy question because there are so many! Broadly speaking, the most pressing issue is the threat of biodiversity loss and the conservation of endangered species. In the context of anti-financial crime (AFC), however, illegal wildlife trade is a multibillion-dollar industry. It is highly lucrative and is placed within the top four global crimes alongside arms, human and drug trafficking. Not only does this illicit trade put immense pressure on vulnerable species, pushing many to the brink of extinction, but it opens a whole new arena for financial laundering through online transactions, cryptocurrencies and the development of artificial intelligence (AI). Furthermore, the link between these top global crimes, and their connection to organized crime, has emerged with large networks of corruption and exploitation being potentially fueled by the proceeds of illegal wildlife crime. Addressing illegal wildlife trafficking requires a coordinated and multifaceted approach involving governments, law enforcement (LE) agencies, the financial sector, conservation organizations and local communities. Efforts to combat this issue include strengthening legislation, improving enforcement mechanisms, following the money, raising public awareness and addressing the root causes of demand for illegal wildlife products.

AT: Why should AFC professionals be concerned with illegal wildlife trafficking?

CH and AA: AFC professionals actually hold the key to one of the most effective and impactful forms of counter-trafficking measures: intelligence gathering and cash flow disruption. By doing your due diligence such as picking up on suspicious activity, following the money trails, characterizing networks and identifying kingpins, you are able to provide intelligence that is extremely difficult for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or police to gather by other means. This valuable information, if shared with the appropriate partners, can then ultimately translate into the disruption of networks, freezing assets and hitting criminals where it really hurts: their wallets! This is hugely significant and will save countless elephants, rhinos, pangolins and more, because if the crime isn’t profitable or becomes too much of a risk, then it won’t be worth it for the criminals and wildlife trafficking and poaching will subside.

AT: What are some of the red flags for illegal wildlife trafficking that AFC professionals should be aware of?

CH and AA: Be proactive. Do not just sit and wait for cases to be referred. Identify suspicious activity (as in the list below) and actively search for and identify suspicious individuals. Then, you need to go further, do more than just kick them out of your financial institution. Track them, follow their networks, their activities. Build a profile and share this information. Do what you can within the confines of the law to pass information on. It is your duty to inform customers and companies of high-risk items/individuals involved in their operations. You can also involve LE. For example, opportunities to collaborate with the Hong Kong Police are increased now, given the expanded investigative powers provided since wildlife crime became classified under the Organized and Serious Crime Ordinance. Meanwhile NGOs can also be valuable partners. For instance, United for Wildlife have a financial task force, regional chapters and a logistics task force, which are excellent chances for networking, convening and sharing intelligence.

Red flags that may indicate wildlife trafficking that AFC professionals should be aware of include those listed below.

1. Unusual payment methods: Transactions involving cash payments, multiple wire transfers or payments from high-risk jurisdictions.
2. Lack of transparency: Transactions with parties that are unwilling to provide sufficient information about the nature of the business or the source of funds.
3. Inconsistencies in documentation: Discrepancies between shipping documents, invoices and other paperwork related to wildlife products.
4. High-risk jurisdictions: Transactions involving countries known for weak enforcement of wildlife protection laws or high levels of corruption.
5. Unusual shipment routes: Wildlife products being shipped through unconventional routes or to destinations not typically associated with wildlife trade can be a red flag.
6. Large or frequent transactions: Unusually large or frequent transactions involving wildlife products may indicate illegal trafficking activities.
7. Lack of due diligence: Failure to conduct proper due diligence on business partners, suppliers or customers involved in the wildlife trade.

AT: Could you provide a couple of examples of how DNA forensics techniques are being employed to detect if animals are being traded illegally?

CH and AA: Genetics are being used to answer many wildlife forensic questions such as: “What is this and where did it come from?” The most commonly asked question in wildlife crime cases is: “What species is it?” Here at the University of Hong Kong, we use DNA techniques to identify the species of animal and plant parts/products sold in the markets and seized at borders. For example, we may want to know if a solid, orange object sold in a shop is from an illegally traded, critically endangered helmeted hornbill, or something legal. Or perhaps your family wants to put shark fin, wrasse, sea cucumber or abalone on the wedding menu. How do you know which species are legal or not, or even whether they are being sold as the species they are claimed to be? Laundering an illegal species as a legal one is common, as is laundering a cheaper species as a more expensive species (and therefore higher-priced). Species identification can generally be uncovered through traditional DNA barcoding, taking advantage of unique genetic “barcodes” that individuals, species and populations have. More recently, scientists have been expanding into next-generation genomic methods, which look at the whole genome of an organism and provide a much more in-depth analysis of an individual (although these methods tend to be more expensive and labor-intensive). For example, whole genome analysis or single-nucleotide polymorphism panels can be used to identify the individual animal or plant from which a part or product found in a shop or in the possession of a person originated. This can help inform specific cases of poacher incidents.

AT: Have new developments emerged recently related to illegal wildlife trading?

CH and AA: Indeed, both the act of illegal wildlife trafficking and finding its solutions are ever-evolving and changing, like any pressure/selection-driven system. As laws are tightening and enforcement are on the lookout for illegally traded species, traffickers are finding new ways to overcome this—from shifting their illegal trade from physical shops to online platforms, to finding creative ways to launder money, to packaging wildlife products in inventive ways (e.g., live endangered cockatoos in plastic bottles) to avoiding well-monitored land and sea trade routes. However, it also seems like a lot more people are talking about illegal wildlife trading, compared to 20 years ago for instance. Wildlife forensic capacity has been increasing globally, thanks to NGOs and societies like the Society for Wildlife Forensic Science, particularly in Asia and Africa. Here in Hong Kong, collaborations between governmental departments, NGOs and researchers have enabled new tools, research and capacity to be developed—with the Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group leading much of this work. Also, a wealth of interdisciplinary research has emerged in recent years (including from the CFL) aimed at answering conservation and population questions related to wildlife forensics. We also note that it's not just illegal trade that is the problem, but there’s a lot of unsustainable legal trade occurring that is threatening species worldwide. We must keep on top of any crime or unsustainable practice with traceability, sustainability and regulation if we want it to diminish. In addition, extra attention must be paid toward crimes involving rapidly declining species.

Interviewed by: Karla Monterrosa-Yancey, CAMS, editor-in-chief, ACAMS, editor@acams.org

Ben Bahner, CAMS, editor, ACAMS, bbahner@acams.org