Historically, the poaching of wildlife was portrayed as a small-scale local activity in which only small numbers of wildlife would be smuggled illegally by collectors or opportunists. Nowadays, this image has changed: criminal networks are believed to be highly involved in wildlife trafficking, which has become a significant area of illicit activity. Even though wildlife trafficking has become accepted as a major area of crime and an important topic and criminologists have examined a variety of illegal wildlife markets, research that specifically focusses on the involvement of different criminal networks and their specific nature is lacking. The concept of a ‘criminal network’ or ‘serious organized crime’ is amorphous – getting used interchangeably and describes all crime that is structured rather than solely reflecting crime that fits within normative definitions of ‘organized’ crime. In reality, criminal networks are diverse. As such, we propose categories of criminal networks that are evidenced in the literature and within our own fieldwork: (1) organized crime groups (2) corporate crime groups and (3) disorganized criminal networks. Whereas there are instances when these groups act alone, this article will (also) discuss the overlap and interaction that occurs between our proposed categories and discuss the complicated nature of the involved criminal networks as well as predictions as to the future of these networks.

中文翻译：

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区分非法野生动物贸易中的犯罪网络：有组织的、公司的和无组织的犯罪

从历史上看，偷猎野生动物被描述为一种小规模的当地活动，只有少数野生动物会被收藏家或投机者非法走私。如今，这种形象发生了变化：犯罪网络被认为与野生动物贩运密切相关，这已成为非法活动的重要领域。尽管野生动植物贩运已成为公认的主要犯罪领域和重要话题，犯罪学家研究了各种非法野生动植物市场，但仍缺乏专门针对不同犯罪网络的参与及其具体性质的研究。“犯罪网络”或“严重有组织犯罪”的概念是无定形的——可以互换使用，描述所有有组织的犯罪，而不仅仅是反映符合“有组织”犯罪规范定义的犯罪。实际上，犯罪网络多种多样。因此，我们提出了在文献和我们自己的实地调查中得到证实的犯罪网络类别：(1) 有组织的犯罪集团 (2) 公司犯罪集团和 (3) 无组织的犯罪网络。虽然存在这些团体单独行动的情况，但本文将（也）讨论我们提出的类别之间发生的重叠和相互作用，并讨论所涉及犯罪网络的复杂性质以及对这些网络未来的预测。犯罪网络多种多样。因此，我们提出了在文献和我们自己的实地调查中得到证实的犯罪网络类别：(1) 有组织的犯罪集团 (2) 公司犯罪集团和 (3) 无组织的犯罪网络。虽然存在这些团体单独行动的情况，但本文将（也）讨论我们提出的类别之间发生的重叠和相互作用，并讨论所涉及犯罪网络的复杂性质以及对这些网络未来的预测。犯罪网络多种多样。因此，我们提出了在文献和我们自己的实地调查中得到证实的犯罪网络类别：(1) 有组织的犯罪集团 (2) 公司犯罪集团和 (3) 无组织的犯罪网络。虽然存在这些团体单独行动的情况，但本文将（也）讨论我们提出的类别之间发生的重叠和相互作用，并讨论所涉及犯罪网络的复杂性质以及对这些网络未来的预测。