A recent survey by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ranking 23 nations' compliance with international regulations concerning trade in wild animals has found that they fall short of upholding them in regards to three of the species most sought after on the international black market: Elephants, tigers and rhinoceroses. "These are just three species, and they are probably the three most talked about, so they are a kind of bellwether for wider problems," Colman Criodain, wildlife trade specialist with the WWF, said. The survey explored the practices in countries where these animals originate and must travel through, as well as the countries to where they arrive for sale. Many countries received WWF "red marks" for failing to meet the regulations' guidelines but not all was grim: India and Nepal received "green marks" for their treatment of all three species and for their efforts against poaching. The WWF warns that in the last decade, the western black rhino went extinct and the Indochinese Javan rhinoceros was eradicated from Vietnam. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, much of the situation was caused by poaching. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora treaty, signed by 175 nations – including Israel – makes nearly all commercial trade in rhino horns, elephant ivory, tiger parts and other species threatened with extinction illegal. The treaty's members are also committed to regulating trade within their borders. The World Wildlife Fund ranked nations' compliance with the treaty according to whether not the nation had adopted policies that supported the treaty – and the nations' enforcement of those policies. The WWF admits that the survey is not comprehensive, but rather "it is a snapshot that focuses on certain countries that face the highest levels of illegal trade in these three species." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter