Inside the Illegal Wildlife Trade — A Crime You Never See | Monique Snosnowski

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 743 Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Monique Sosnowski is a wildlife crime researcher, professor, and security specialist who studies one of the most hidden criminal industries in the world — the illegal wildlife trade. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, she exposes how animal trafficking, poaching, and black market networks actually operate, including shocking cases happening right here in the United States. From the underground tiger trade to the reality of people keeping monkeys as pets, Monique breaks down how these industries thrive, why enforcement is so difficult, and how these crimes often go unnoticed despite generating billions globally. _____________________________________________ #WildlifeCrime #WildlifeTrafficking #AnimalSmuggling #IllegalTrade #TrueCrime #CrimeStories #Conservation #WildlifeProtection _____________________________________________ Connect with Monique Sosnowski: Instagram: @m_sosnow LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/moniquesosnowski _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Inside the Illegal Wildlife Trade 01:05 Monnique Suznowski’s Background 03:52 Growing Up Loving Animals & Africa 06:42 First Exposure to the Ivory Trade 09:45 How Big the Wildlife Trafficking Industry Really Is 12:32 Wildlife Crime in the United States 14:34 Why Wildlife Crime Penalties Are So Low 15:35 Major Federal Wildlife Crime Cases 18:32 How Wildlife Trafficking Happens in the US 20:40 Most Trafficked Animals in the World 21:54 The Psychology Behind Wildlife Traffickers 23:39 Exotic Pets in American Cities 25:40 Keeping Tigers and Big Cats as Pets 28:12 How Animals Are Smuggled Across Borders 31:32 Border Control & Wildlife Trafficking Detection 33:52 Tiger King Effect & Wildlife Crime Myths 36:40 Zoos, Ethics & Wildlife Rescue Controversy 39:01 Why Americans Want Exotic Pets 43:20 Animal Abuse & Illegal Exotic Pet Discoveries 45:48 Marine Life Trafficking & Aquarium Trade 50:15 Why She Chose Education Over Law Enforcement 54:40 Environmental Crime in the Justice System 01:00:08 Who’s Really Behind Poaching Operations 01:04:14 Media Attention & Public Awareness 01:05:51 What Shocks Students the Most 01:07:32 Why Prosecutors Don’t Understand Wildlife Crime 01:12:46 Repeat Offenders & Weak Sentencing 01:13:51 The Future of Wildlife Crime Enforcement 01:16:02 Final Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The wildlife trade in general is valued up to, I think, $23 billion per year.
0:05.0	What do you think were some of the most shocking elements you came to discover when you entered this world?
0:10.0	He was cloning this sheep. He was selling trophy hunting permits to people.
0:16.0	The sheep got out, and now you have biologically cloned,oned like genetic mutants of sheep running around Montana.
0:22.7	I am a wildlife crime and security specialist. So I do a lot of research on wildlife and
0:29.7	environmental crime. And I'm also a professor. So I get to teach these topics to college students.
0:36.0	Monique Susanowski studies the illegal wildlife trade and what's happening behind the scenes
0:40.7	is worse than most people realized.
0:42.8	From the underground tiger trade in the U.S. to people keeping monkeys as pets, she breaks
0:47.3	down how these black market networks actually operate.
0:50.3	In this episode, she shares some of the craziest cases she's come across, animals are trafficked and sold and why these crimes are so difficult to stop despite happening in plain sight.
1:05.0	So I grew up in Chicago, in Illinois. I went to undergrad there. I spent my whole, you know, younger life there.
1:14.1	And then school took me. I lived to the UK. So I lived in the UK for a year to do my master's.
1:20.5	And then from there, I found my home in New York and did my PhD in the city and never left.
1:25.7	How did you get into teaching? Were your parents' teachers?
1:28.2	Or what was that like?
1:29.2	You know, it's really funny because I never, I never really pursued this expecting to be a professor or a teacher.
1:40.0	I really pursued my career for the research aspect of it.
1:45.1	So my parents were actually, my dad was an attorney, and my mom was a chemist,
1:51.8	so she worked kind of with like paints and chemical.
1:54.5	If you want to save a few quid, British gas have a way.
1:57.7	You get half-priced leky and it's called peak save.
	...

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