Tigers, leopards and sea turtles for sale: How South Korea's secondhand apps became a wildlife trafficking hub

"A genuine tiger that will ward off misfortune from your home."

The listing price — 7 million won ($5,210) — is not something you typically see on a secondhand marketplace, approaching the cost of a used car. The item on offer: a taxidermied tiger.

The product photos show a full tiger, head to tail, preserved in lifelike form. The seller doubled down on its authenticity, describing it as a "truly rare, genuine tiger."

That listing is far from alone. A brief search turns up dozens of similar posts offering processed goods derived from rare animals — tiger and leopard pelts, taxidermied sea turtles, natural ivory and more.

It may prompt the question: is this really South Korea? But this is no story from some distant country with lax enforcement. These listings appear on online secondhand platforms that anyone in South Korea can access.

The problem is that every one of these items originates from species under strict international protection — animals listed as endangered. Their processed derivatives are subject to equally tight restrictions, making such sales potentially illegal.

Because these items are listed alongside ordinary secondhand goods with no special distinction, there are growing concerns that online resale platforms are being exploited as a channel for illegal wildlife trafficking.

An analysis of posts on major domestic online secondhand platforms found numerous listings claiming to sell wildlife — or goods derived from wildlife — whose international trade is strictly regulated.

The most conspicuous items are pelts from large predators such as tigers and leopards. Sellers are not peddling imitation-print products — the listings explicitly describe them as "genuine tiger" or "real leopard," emphasizing that the goods came from actual wild animals.

Both tigers and leopards are listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES — the highest level of trade protection the treaty provides.

Appendix I covers species threatened with extinction that are or may be affected by international trade, and commercial international trade in them is prohibited in principle. In South Korea, commercial trade in large Appendix I felids has been banned since 1994.

Sea turtles found on domestic online secondhand sites are in a similar situation. Some sellers even specified the species — hawksbill sea turtle or green sea turtle — both of which are also listed under CITES Appendix I. Other items identified in the listings include natural ivory, processed coral goods and a taxidermied shortfin mako shark.

Not every online transaction involving such items is automatically illegal. Exceptions apply to goods lawfully imported decades ago or acquired before CITES regulations took effect — but sellers must be able to produce documentation proving the legal origin of the item.

In addition, even legally held items are not free to change hands without restriction. South Korea's Act on Protection and Management of Wildlife requires anyone who purchases, transfers, receives, owns, possesses or displays an internationally endangered species — or processed goods derived from one — to retain documentation proving how the item was lawfully obtained.

Transferring a CITES-listed species that was legally imported into South Korea requires a separate notification to authorities before the transaction takes place, along with submission of supporting documents such as an import permit. In other words, a taxidermied tiger that has hung on a wall for years cannot simply be sold like an ordinary antique without proper paperwork.

The problem is that none of this information was visible in the listings reviewed. Among more than 50 relevant posts examined, not a single one mentioned CITES permits, required notifications or documentation proving a lawful chain of acquisition.

The illegal online trade in processed goods derived from endangered species is not a new phenomenon. Researchers from the Zoological Society of London's Institute of Zoology, University College London, the Korea Tiger Conservation Fund and Seoul National University published a study in the international journal PLOS ONE in May 2024 documenting and flagging the trade in large felid products in South Korea.

The researchers said that by following up on cases flagged by experts, they directly confirmed that products advertised as derived from large felids were being openly sold across multiple South Korean online marketplaces. Tiger and leopard pelts were among the items experts repeatedly cited as examples of domestic trade occurring after 1994.

One expert presented a case in which a seller attempted to list a leopard pelt on a well-known domestic online secondhand marketplace, claiming to have obtained it while working in West Africa. In all cases where a product's origin was mentioned, it was traced to a foreign country — China, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Nepal, Kenya or Gabon.

The government was not unaware of the problem. The Ministry of Environment — now the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy — officially acknowledged as far back as 2016 that "internet and private transactions are on the rise." At the time, 41 of the 83 CITES-related violations detected over the preceding three years involved online sales.

Since then, the government has unified its reporting system, promoted permit and notification procedures, and last year established a dedicated online monitoring unit for the illegal distribution of processed goods derived from internationally endangered species. The project cost 44 million won, and the National Institute of Ecology hired separate staff from September last year through February this year to run the unit and compile and report its findings.

Yet listings advertising "genuine taxidermied tigers" and "real leopard pelts" remain easy to find on domestic secondhand sites today. Experts say the government must actively monitor online pages and posts, and work with secondhand trading platforms to have illegal listings removed.

The researchers recommended that "the South Korean government investigate online pages and posts selling products derived from tigers and other Asian large felids, and cooperate with relevant platforms to have them taken down." They also said regular monitoring should extend beyond publicly visible online transactions to cover covert trade as well.

Meanwhile, anyone who suspects illegal trafficking of wildlife products can report it through the Environmental Sinmungo hotline, the People's Sinmungo portal, the relevant regional environmental authority or law enforcement agencies.