14 DAY TRIAL // People who have knowledge about wildlife and forest crimes can now make sure that the information they have lands on the right ears with the help of a new website dubbed Wildleaks.
This website is the brainchild of a coalition of conservation groups headed by Elephant Action League.
It is said to be a secure and anonymous platform that whistleblowers can use to raise awareness of cases of wildlife trafficking and illegal deforestation, Mongabay reports.
The same source tells us that, to ensure that everybody can use it to help with environmental protection, the website can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
Besides, the folks who visit it can not only report on wildlife and/or forest crimes, but also upload pictures, images, videos, and documents that offer further information concerning the illegal activities.
“Our first priority is to facilitate the identification of criminals and corrupt governmental officials behind the poaching and trafficking of endangered species such as ivory, rhino horn, big cats, apes, pangolins and birds, as well as forest products,” explains Andrea Crosta with Elephant Action League.
Furthermore, “But we also put a lot of effort into protecting the people who chose to send us information, not only by providing a state-of-the-art secure system but also by managing and using the information in the correct way.”
Depending on the information that reaches them, the folks behind Wildleaks promise to see to it that a thorough investigation into the reported wildlife and forest crimes is carried out by authorities.
The goal is to put an end to these illegal activities, and see to it that the people behind them pay for their deeds.
“We will work to transform this information into a verified and actionable item, a point for launching an investigation or sharing it with the media or, when possible, with selected and trusted law enforcement officers, always aiming at exposing wildlife crimes and bringing the responsible individuals to justice,” promises Andrea Crosta.
Given the fact that both poaching activities and illegal logging are pretty much running rampant these day, it comes as good news that those who wish to draw attention to such activities can now do so in a secure and anonymous way.