How an investigator infiltrates poaching networks to fight wildlife crime
Wildlife criminologist Allison Skidmore went undercover in Russia, Malaysia, and the Horn of Africa to expose poaching and illegal wildlife trade. She began as an anti-poaching ranger in South Africa and later investigated Amur tiger poaching in Russia's Far East. Skidmore now runs the organization Leave Them Wild and teaches at the University of Innsbruck.
Skidmore's undercover work in Russia's Far East involved embedding within isolated hunting communities to document how Amur tiger poaching rings operated at the local level. Her doctoral research, which began in 2016, culminated in published academic findings in 2020 covering the mechanics of wildlife trafficking, including corruption tracing and money laundering methods used by these networks.
Her career trajectory spans field enforcement to academia: starting as an anti-poaching ranger at Kruger National Park, she now leads the organization Leave Them Wild while serving as a visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck. Her investigations have extended across Malaysia and the Horn of Africa, with particular focus on how traffickers exploit vulnerable transit hubs in the illegal wildlife supply chain.
Skidmore's work highlights how wildlife crime operates as a transnational business network, not merely isolated poaching incidents. Her findings could inform enforcement strategies at transit hubs and help policymakers understand corruption pathways that enable trafficking. Communities dependent on wildlife tourism or conservation funding may be affected by the scale of these networks, while consumers of wildlife products could face increased scrutiny. Her academic approach may also influence how future criminologists are trained to investigate environmental crimes.