Wild Crimes

May 18th 2022

We were delighted to welcome back Dr Khalil Thirlaway (Brown’s 2007), Science Communicator at the Natural History Museum, on 17 May to deliver (on behalf of Alleyn’s) the latest in the ‘Thinking About..’ webinar in the series for the Southwark Schools Learning Partnership (SSLP).

Khalil spoke about some of the biggest wildlife smuggling rackets on the planet. He explained that wildlife crime is one of the biggest illegal businesses in the world - every day, animals and plants are poached, packaged and traded across countries and continents for profit. From critically endangered eels stuffed into suitcases to caged chameleons at the heart of the exotic pet trade, millions of animals are dying at the hands of organised, criminal gangs. He emphasised that trading wildlife has deadly consequences for humans too - our exploitation of the natural world is increasing the risk of future pandemics and fuelling the fire of biodiversity loss.

Khalil is a science communicator at the Natural History Museum, where he produces and presents events and generally enthuses audiences about nature and science. Furthermore, a freelance Science writer, he writes for various outlets including The Naked Scientists and The Times Literary Supplement. You can folow Khalil on twitter here https://twitter.com/drtalksalot

His recent Podcast Wild Crimes: A Natural History Museum podcast, won Bronze for the best Independent Podcast at the Audio & Radio Industry Awards. You can listen to it here

The young audience - made up of pupils from the SSLP schools - asked some excellent questions such as ‘Is it ethical to have exotic pets?’, 'What can we do to protect animals?' and 'Why are there green parakeets in south London?'

SSLP is the Southwark Schools Learning Partnership which includes