China is the largest online market of products made of wild animals

China has become the largest market for illegal wildlife trading with a huge number of related animal products being sold online, according to a new report by a major animal welfare group.

At least 18,590 animal products were for sale online in the country at the beginning of 2014, the International Fund for Animal Welfare reported on Tuesday. Of the 21 online marketplaces monitored in China, wildlife products valued at $2.7 million were available for sale from March 10 to April 18.

The products mainly involved elephant and rhinoceros ivory, turtles, tortoises and exotic birds, the nonprofit group said. The ivory trade dominated all the sales in the country, with nearly 79 percent of them made up of ivory products.

Worldwide, IFAW's investigators found 33,006 endangered wildlife and related products for sale on 280 online marketplaces in 16 countries early this year.

“The shocking scale of online wildlife trade shows that the Internet poses a real threat to wildlife,” said Tania McCrea-Steele, who leads the IFAW Global Internet Wildlife Trade Team. (MTI)