The palgrave international handbook of a 236

International Trade in Animals and Animal Parts 231 and killed and then their horn removed; some are tranquilised with their horns sewn off while they are still alive These rhinos later die from blood loss or shock (Milliken and Shaw 2012) Again, there are both individual and institutional degrees of abuse in the methods of killing Obviously, individuals suffer from being shot, bludgeoned, stabbed, cooked or mutilated, but equally important is the systematic use of these methods to routinely inflict injury and death in order to sate human demand for consumption There is little consideration for using the most humane methods possible, which arguably should be the case if humans insist on using wildlife Why the abuse happens is explored in the next section Explanations No single theory can effectively explain the variety and extent of animal abuse evidenced in the legal and IWT While it is likely that active, intentional and malicious abuse occurs in both (for example, when an animal is specifically injured to satisfy anger or frustration), this is not commonly identified or discussed in the wildlife trade literature, and so will not be discussed here Rather, given the scale of the wildlife trade and the norms associated with the capture, consumption and use of wildlife, this section focuses on explaining the commonplace abuses inflicted on wildlife as a consequence of trade, as discussed above Specifically, two notable criminolgical theories are utilised—Rational Choice Theory and Techniques of Neutralisation—to help explain how broader societal factors influence offenders to engage in IWT These theories are often used to explain criminal behaviour, but they can also help to understand why people also engage in the abuses common to the legal trade As noted earlier, there is a fine line between legal and illegal harm in the trade; the behaviour and motivations are often the same, only the context changes as a result of limitations placed on the offender A useful starting point is to consider the people who engage in IWT and why IWT Offenders and Motivations for Offending There is no recognised profile of the IWT offender A diverse assortment of actors are motivated to offend: from deprived women and men who hunt, capture and kill native wildlife, to corrupt officials taking bribes to turn a blind eye, to organised crime groups who kill, capture, purchase and